2026 Election: Meet the candidates for Austin City Council District 9

AUSTIN, Texas - Five candidates are running for Austin City Council District 9: Zo Qadri, Rich Heyman, Katie Kam, Kai Huang, and Dave Thadani. 

Meet the candidates

What they're saying:

Zo Qadri was first elected four years ago. 

"I'm proudly running for reelection because I think we've done a tremendous amount of work on issues that Austinites care about, but there's still a lot of work to be done," he said. 

Rich Heyman was a UT Austin professor. 

"I'm well-informed because of my background, 30 years of studying cities with a Ph.D. in urban geography. I have integrity. I'm the kind of person who stands up for what I believe in, like students' rights to protest and free speech at UT. I'm going to stand up for the people of Austin in the same way," he said. 

Katie Kam is a civil engineer and former teacher. 

"I've purposely oriented my career and education around how to be of service to Austin for the last 30 years. I have that depth of knowledge that I bring to the council that will help make better informed decisions," she said. 

Kai Huang has a finance and tech background. 

"I'm a neighbor's candidate. I'm not from a politician background. However, I do have a financial background to keep everyone in check, especially the budget. I want to make sure that our money is spent wisely, as much as your money," he said. 

Dave Thadani did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. 

His campaign website says he's a UT student. His priorities include improving walkability and transit, protecting green spaces, expanding affordable housing, and creating a landlord transparency portal. 

Prop I

What they're saying:

Prop I would require external audits of city spending. 

"I'm not supporting Prop I. I am a big believer in the audit that's going to be done by the city, and I have full faith in our city auditor," Qadri said. 

"I don't favor Prop I, which is the mandatory external audit. The way that it's written, I think there are too many requirements in it that would be burdensome," Heyman said. 

"An audit by charter amendment, I think, would set the tone for the city to understand that we're serious, you need to be operating the city efficiently," Kam said. 

"The city's money is your money, it's my money, someone's money. Someone needs to be accountable for this spending. I'm supportive of Prop I because it creates accountability from outside, not just inside," Huang said. 

Homelessness and public safety 

What they're saying:

"There's still way too many folks who are unhoused. We need to make sure we take care of folks regarding their mental health. If there are folks dealing with substance abuse issues, we have the resources available," Qadri said. 

"I think social work is necessary in Austin, and I think, more or less, in terms of spending money, we have got to see the results, right? I would not put money towards something that shows no results, and if the result shows, let's fund it more," Huang said. 

"We definitely have to have services that meet the needs of those members of our community, but we also need to recognize that a locality can only provide a certain amount of that funded locally," Heyman said. 

"If we aren't addressing the repeat offenders, I think we're not addressing public safety. Putting resources to that, I think, would make a huge dent in improving public safety," Kam said. 

Transportation

What they're saying:

On transportation, some candidates had concerns about Project Connect and had other suggestions for getting around. 

"I believe in Project Connect. I believe in laying the foundation for it. I think ultimately, for us in the present, but also folks of the future are going to greatly benefit from it," Qadri said. 

He's also advocating for more frequent bus routes and the e-bike program has been great for District 9 residents. 

Huang says there should be accountability with money on Project Connect.

"I think if we were going to build it, we should probably partner with private companies to make sure that we have accountability for them as well. Private, public working together," he said. 

Huang also suggests working with developers to build parking structures on dirt lots. He also says analyzing traffic flows can increase the efficiency of things like bus routes. 

Heyman said, "I voted for Project Connect, like a lot of people, I'm really disappointed with the current plan as it stands because it's been scaled back so much and the costs have gone up. I think that we really do need to have a reassessment." 

Heyman also says having a feeder system of buses or on-demand vans could be something to expand to. He also wants to see more done on the climate crisis. 

Kam says one of her passions is transportation. 

"I advocate as a city council member that we stop the Project Connect light rail project and reassess the technology and the approach we're taking to transit to make sure we're serving as many people as possible with frequent transit. One idea that I'm totally open to is a monorail system that parallels I-35 or Lamar. It's out of the street. The problem with street level light rail is you're adding more conflict to the street, you're going to have conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists and cars," she said.

She also suggested low-speed electric vehicles, on-demand transit, and roundabouts. Kam also says development not compatible with neighborhoods is an issue. 

Heyman's arrest

Heyman was arrested two years ago after the pro-Palestine protest at UT Austin.  

"One of the officers started shoving me around out of the blue, so I yelled back at him, and then it kind of blew over. It lasted like less than a minute, blew over, I went about my business," Heyman said. "Ten days later I got surrounded in my neighborhood, so they were staking out my house, DPS. My car was surrounded by a bunch of unmarked DPS officers who were in plain clothes. There was one officer in a marked car with a uniform. I was pulled over, I was taken out of my car, I was put in handcuffs and taken to jail. I had never been arrested before in my life, and they couldn't even tell me what I was being arrested for."

He was charged with interfering with public duties, but that was ultimately dropped. 

He later found out his contract with the university was not going to be renewed. 

"The whole thing was very traumatic for me and for the students especially. Many of them had disciplinary punishments that were unwarranted, so that was the beginning of the crackdown on free speech and academic freedom," he said. 

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