Zo touts rent drops in reelection announcement

Zo Qadri has announced he is running for reelection next year for District 9. This is no surprise, of course. Qadri’s prodigious fundraising since his election in 2022 has made clear that he didn’t plan on being a one-hit wonder.

A couple things to note about D9:

• It's the only district unambiguously located in Central Austin
• It's got a major student population
• It's the only district where Prop Q passed.

Qadri has some pretty strong fundamentals in his favor. In addition to the big financial edge, he has incumbency, which no longer carries much weight in national/state partisan races but remains a major factor in down ballot nonpartisan races.

If Prop Q passed among the minority of D9 residents who are engaged enough to show up for an odd-year election, then Qadri has even less to fear from the 2026 midterm electorate, many of whom will be young renters entirely oblivious to the local debate about property taxes.

In contrast, one cannot provide the same reassurance to Paige Ellis and Ryan Alter, whose districts voted 74% and 64%, respectively, against Prop Q.

Furthermore, Qadri has a coherent story to tell about city spending. First, unlike some of his colleagues, he wasn't caught doing dumb shit with his city credit card. Second, he was the only member of Council last year who voted against the fiscally reckless police contract. It's been funny how conservatives have suggested this will hurt him. Why? The median Austin voter wants the police department to exist, but they don't want to blow the entire budget on it and they definitely don't equate public safety with the police union's agenda.

Qadri, who was elected to City Council with very little prior involvement in local issues, is still far from a policy wonk. He is pretty quiet on the dais and when he speaks, his remarks or questions appear to be prepared. While he is not known to get into the weeds of policy, his name has been on some important land use changes, such as the elimination of parking requirements and occupancy limits. He has good staff.

So far he has two declared opponents: Ard Ardalan and Rich Heyman. Both are making left-coded arguments against the pro-development policies embraced by this City Council to bolster housing supply. Both of them are otherwise progressive — Heyman was actually fired from his position as a UT lecturer over a kerfuffle with the police during a Gaza protest. The county attorney recently dismissed the charges.

In his reelection announcement, however, Qadri touts the decline in rents since his term began as evidence that pro-supply policies are working:

During Qadri’s first term, Austin rents have fallen by roughly 10%. The decline, among the largest in Texas, was made possible by a series of pro-housing reforms passed by Qadri on Council that expanded missing-middle options, updated compatibility standards, and cleared barriers that kept affordable homes out of reach.

“Austin renters needed relief, and we delivered it,” Qadri said. “Lower rents don’t happen by accident. They happen when we use public policy to make housing more available and more affordable for everyday people. I'm committed to the work still left to be done."

As I've said before, the rent decreases are absolutely evidence that supply and demand exists, but

Qadri also highlighted his support for mental health crisis response and increased funding for EMS, saying that Austinites deserve a city government "that protects both their safety and their pocketbook."

Safety and pocketbook. It's a very different vibe from when he first declared four years ago. Much more practical, far less social justice jargon.

Random thoughts on American health care

I was going to write about some other stuff today but then I suffered the world's lamest injury: falling on a treadmill and splitting my chin open. Many economists argue that a key way to lower health costs is by encouraging "consumer-driven" health plans, where patients assume a greater share of the costs and will not consume unnecessary healthcare services. It's a funny concept, because how many people really want to go to the doctor unless they feel it's absolutely necessary? I certainly didn't want to go to urgent care tonight, even if it was free. On the other hand, my high deductible plan did almost deter me from making what the attending physician told me was an absolutely necessary visit. I just hope they don't charge me too much extra for the tetanus shot.

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