Councilmember Dee Andrews is already gearing up for a possible rematch with not only second place candidate Al Austin, but third place finisher Ahmed Saafir in the upcoming 6th District election.
The contest will be much different this time around. Since it is not a special election, there will likely be fewer candidates running and Dee Andrews is an incumbent this time around. Austin and Saafir have not formally announced, but we should know their intentions in the next couple of weeks.
Here are 3 unanswered key questions –
1) Will Ahmed Saafir run? If he does, he will find that most of his establishment support has moved over to Dee Andrews. Both the Chamber and some of his supporters have indicated that they may jump on board with Dee Andrews. If Saafir loses his support and still runs, does his campaign hurt or help Andrews?
2) Will the Mayor support Al Austin again? Austin had the support of Mayor Foster as well as some other key Councilmembers. Will those elected officials stay out of the race out of respect to their new colleague Andrews? Or will they back Austin once again?
3) Will Labor unite behind Austin? Austin had the support of almost all of the local and regional Labor Unions in the last elections. Will they stand behind Austin once again with manpower and money?
It will be interesting to see how these questions play out and how the campaigns come together. In the case of both Andrews and Austin, you have two passionate and hardworking campaigners. The election may be the only major contested election in this council cycle.