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Early voting is underway for Tuesday’s primary runoffs, and we have a look at two races on some Central Texans’ ballots: state House District 49 and Hays County judge.
Austin is working to rename Cesar Chavez Street after accusations of sexual abuse and assault. But some are struggling with those changes.
Some good news and some bad news about a ranking of Austin’s parks. We’ve got more from a new report, including who rivals the city’s parks.
And: A sneak peek at tomorrow night’s ATXplained Live!
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jennifer Stayton [00:00:09] It’s late May, but yes it is election season in Texas. Early voting is underway in the primary runoff election. Hear what some central Texans are seeing on their ballots this go-around and what it means for this fall’s election.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:23] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jennifer Staton.
Jennifer Stayton [00:00:29] Austin is working to rename Cesar Chavez Street after accusations of sexual abuse and assault, but some are struggling with those changes. We’ll hear about that. Plus some good news and some bad news about a ranking of Austin’s parks. We’ve got more from a new report, including who rivals the city’s parks, and you know it, you love it. It is time for another AT Explained live show. We’ll get a sneak peek at tomorrow night’s extravaganza. All of that coming up on Austin Signal. Stay with us. It’s Wednesday, May 20, 2026. This is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jennifer Staten, in today for Jerry Quijano. It’s almost late May, but it is election time. In Texas, early voting is underway in the primary runoff. Some Austin Democrats are picking who they want to succeed. Longtime state representative Gina Inahosa, KUT’s Andrew Weber.
Andrew Weber [00:01:33] On paper, Montserrat Gadibai and Kathy Tovo are a lot alike. For one, they’re both trying to be the spiritual successor to Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat who’s held the Texas House district that stretches from southwest Austin all the way up to Runberg, carving through central Austin and the UT campus. HinoJosa, who’s running for governor, is not seeking re-election. Like her, both candidates are squarely focused on public education. The paths they took to get there scrapping their way out of an eight candidate Democratic primary to the runoff are markedly different. Let’s start with Gadibai. Gadibay worked as a teacher in the Austin Independent School District and an organizer with Education Austin, the city’s teacher union, before working in Washington under the Biden administration. Taking a break from block walking, Gadibais said teachers and staff at Austin ISD feel like the district is in free fall, facing a $181 million shortfall, school closures and possible layoffs. Scotty by says the state’s voucher program to give private schools public money pushed by Governor Greg Abbott isn’t helping
Montserrat Gadibai [00:02:35] educators and family members are really worried about the vouchers that are going to private schools. So the number one issue has been education.
Andrew Weber [00:02:44] Gadibay says she would push to change the so-called recapture process, which sends billions of dollars out of property-rich districts like Austin ISD every year. Tovo largely agrees with Gadibai. The former Austin City Council member says she wants to bring her experience at City Hall to the Texas Capitol. Tovo says Austin ISC’s problems are the product of years of mismanagement at the state level. She also took a break from block walking last week to talk priorities heading into the runoff.
Kathy Tovo [00:03:12] The Republican legislature refuses to fully fund our public education. So that is definitely one, you know, one threat.
Andrew Weber [00:03:19] Tovo says as a former Austin City Council member, she’s used to operating in opposition to the legislature. But that experience also gave her a broader skill set that she thinks will be useful for District 49. Everything from Austin energy rate negotiations to affordable housing bonds to paid sick leave.
Kathy Tovo [00:03:37] The legislature very often takes aim at Austin and so having somebody in this seat who has been on the other side of that issue and is fully prepared to stand up for Austin policies, to stand out for our city and defend it when necessary is important.
Andrew Weber [00:03:50] As an educator, Garibay says she’s more uniquely positioned to tackle public education issues at the Capitol. She points to her efforts to lobby for pre-K at the legislature in 2011 when she first joined Education Austin. It was a balance of both stubborn advocacy and knowing how to curry favor with lawmakers across the aisle to get things done, she says. That would be helpful in the overwhelmingly Republican Texas House.
Montserrat Gadibai [00:04:14] We can clear points of orders and do big speeches in the capital, but we really need more than that. We need someone that can work in collaboration with others that can build bridges, let’s say, and really bring the people together.
Andrew Weber [00:04:30] Republicans did not field a candidate, so the winner of the runoff will take the seat. Early voting runs through May 22nd, and Election Day is May 26th. I’m Andrew Weber in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:04:44] These primary runoffs solidify who will appear on the ballot in this fall’s general election. In Hayes County, two Democrats are facing off for the chance to be the next county judge. KUT’s Lee Walden reports.
Leigh Walden [00:04:58] Two members of the Hays County Commissioner’s Court are facing off in a tight race for Hays County Judge. Incumbent Ruben Becerra is running against Michelle Gutierrez-Cohen, the current Precinct II Commissioner. In March, Becerrah was just shy of winning the primary, receiving 49.1% of the vote. In Texas, a runoff is triggered when no candidate receives more than 50%. Gutierre’s Cohen received 45.4%. The judge is the top administrative officer in the county. Some duties of the position include running county commissioner meetings overseeing the county budget, and directing emergency management. Becerra has been in the role since 2018. One of his priorities for his next term is to expand the indigit healthcare system in Hays County. This program provides coverage for low-income residents who do not qualify for other subsidized programs like Medicaid.
Ruben Becerra [00:05:44] I want to increase access to the working people. See, I’ve always been a worker all my life, born and raised worker. So through the blue collar lens, I know that we, for the most part, don’t have a bunch of free money to do a root canal even.
Leigh Walden [00:06:01] Becerra says his perspective as a business owner has made him more aware of the gaps that blue collar workers in Hays County face. It’s also made him more sensitive to wasteful spending.
Ruben Becerra [00:06:10] And so I want a lean, responsive government. And so just having an overcrowded jail system is hugely wasteful on the social front and on the financial front.
Leigh Walden [00:06:22] Gutierrez-Cohen shares Becerra’s goals for criminal justice reform.
Michelle Gutierrez Cohen [00:06:29] Criminal justice division that includes public defender pre-trial specialty courts and pull data from all three of them and identify gaps and start creating a reform
Leigh Walden [00:06:49] program. If elected, she hopes she can deliver a more responsive and efficient justice system. Gutierrez Cohen lives in Kyle. In 2020, she saw firsthand how parts of her community, especially folks in Kyle’s predominantly Hispanic east side, were struggling during the pandemic. She started food and emergency supply drives and eventually worked to get vaccines distributed throughout the area. Since being elected to the Commissioner’s Court in 2022, Gutierrez-Cohen has continued working on public health initiatives and thinking about the ways they intersect with other priority items in the county.
Michelle Gutierrez Cohen [00:07:19] I mean I am fighting like hell for road infrastructure and I never thought I’d be so passionate about roads and connecting it to public health because people have told me that our road infrastructure is impacting their quality of life.
Leigh Walden [00:07:33] The winner of the runoff will face Republican challenger Jeffery Tewawa in November. Early voting runs through this Friday and Election Day is next Tuesday, May 26th. I’m Leigh Walden in Hays County.
Jennifer Stayton [00:07:49] A new report ranking park systems in cities around the country shows Austin making big gains in access to outdoor spaces, climbing seven spots over last year. The annual park score index from the nonprofit Trust for Public Land rates cities on availability of parks, acreage of parkland, amenities and other factors. But while Austin rose in the rankings, it placed 47th out of the 100 cities in report behind four other Texas cities all in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Here now to talk more about this is Molly Morgan. She’s Texas State Director for the Trust for Public Land. Molly, welcome to Austin Signal. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. So Molly, first, tell us about what factors are taken into consideration when the cities are ranked in this report.
Molly Morgan [00:08:37] Absolutely. So every year we rank the top 100 most populous cities for park score and we measure them in five categories and that’s access, amenities, investment, equity, and acreage. And so we kind of have a level playing field across the board by measuring each of those categories in every city.
Jennifer Stayton [00:08:57] Level playing field. That’s a good Parks pun, Molly. So Molly, Austin, Austinites will be happy to know that Austin climbed several places in this year’s ranking over last year. Why was Austin able to improve the city score?
Molly Morgan [00:09:13] Yeah, so Austin jumped seven spots this year, and 10 parks open in park-deficient neighborhoods this year is really what led to that square jump. There are real new places that are serving residents who didn’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of their home before, and that’s really what moved the number. And 10 years ago, you know, fewer than half of Austin residents could reach a park, trailer, green space within a ten-minute-walk of their own, and today, that’s 76%. And so that’s not just a data story. You know, it’s a community win about what happens when a city consistently invest in the right places for its community.
Jennifer Stayton [00:09:46] So it sounds like access to parks has improved for folks in Austin, and I think certainly people think of Austin as an outdoor-oriented city, but it still does rank behind a handful of other Texas cities like Dallas. What are those cities doing that makes them rank higher than Austin?
Molly Morgan [00:10:05] Yeah, so when I think about park score, in a lot of ways I think about it in a scorecard that gives cities a tool to honestly evaluate their park systems and where they can improve if they want to. But knowing a place like Austin has a really great park system and you know TPL’s history in Austin goes back more than 30 years when we helped purchase over a thousand acres for Barton Creek watershed. So Austin still has a very very strong park system. You know, I think Austin is growing very quickly and that can pose some challenges to access if there’s neighborhoods or places that aren’t being developed without a park. We know that people get more benefit, more mental health benefit, more physical health benefit. Children get more benefits, you know in terms of their school scores and things like that from having a close to home park in addition to big nature. And so some of the things that Austin could continue to work on is making sure that you know, there aren’t park gaps in high equity areas. And then most Texas cities need to continue to think about how they’re investing in green spaces and continue to push for things in this quality of life sphere that aren’t just a nice to have to continue have investment behind them to support them.
Jennifer Stayton [00:11:22] Molly, were there things that other cities did, not just in Texas, that really ranked near the top, obviously taking into account, as you mentioned, population growth, that are things that Austin could also be paying attention to?
Molly Morgan [00:11:36] You know, I think Austin’s doing the right thing by looking at that access score and really smart ways to fill park gaps in the communities that need them the most. You know the top cities in the country have fairly strong investment scores. And on top of that, Texas, we’re a suburban, in many cases, Sunbelt City structure compared to some denser places like New York City. Or places that are working beyond 100% access. In Texas, we’re still trying to get access up because of kind of the structure of how cities are designed. So I think, you know, looking honestly at what amenities people most want in their park space and what’s the baseline for that, making sure that there’s enough access and continuing to invest and really looking at ways to increase that investment to be more competitive with those top.
Jennifer Stayton [00:12:27] Ten cities. Okay, Molly, I’ve been resisting asking this the whole time. Not that it’s a competition, but who is number one?
Molly Morgan [00:12:33] Number one in Texas is Plano, and Plano’s held that score for some time, and Dallas is the next behind it.
Jennifer Stayton [00:12:41] And who’s number one in the country.
Molly Morgan [00:12:44] It is Washington, D.C. This year.
Jennifer Stayton [00:12:47] We’ve been speaking with Molly Morgan, Texas State Director for the Trust for Public Land. We’ll have a link to their full report in today’s show notes. Molly, thanks so much for joining us on Austin Signal. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. We’ll be right back with more Austin Signal This is the Austin Signal, welcome back. The city of Austin is in the process of renaming Cesar Chavez Street. That’s after a recent New York Times investigation found the civil rights leader was accused of sexual abuse and assault. In a matter of weeks, his name and face were erased from public spaces across the country. KUT’s Luz Moreno-Lazano reports on how some people are struggling with those changes.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:13:33] For decades, Cesar Chavez mobilized people across the country to advocate on behalf of farm workers, migrant workers, and working class Latinos. He co-founded the United Farm Workers Labor Union alongside Dolores Huerta. Bertha Rendon Ortiz, an East Austin native, says she idolized Chavez. Her grandparents and parents were labor organizers themselves, and the family has revered work for decades.
Bertha Rendon Ortiz [00:13:57] Brave enough to go and do things that in that time, the Mexican culture had no voice, had limited rights, they were in poverty, they didn’t even have resources. And so he helped create and shape that.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:14:17] Today, murals, statues, streets, and other public spaces bear his name. But a recent New York Times investigation found Chavez was accused of sexually abusing two girls, along with sexually assaulting his co-founder Huerta. It cast a dark shadow over his legacy and the farmworkers’ movement. Local leaders are now faced with how to hold Chavez accountable and acknowledge the feelings of the women who have come forward. Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes says that includes renaming Cesar Chavez Street. That’s the road that runs along Lady Bird Lake in front of Austin City Hall.
Vanessa Fuentes [00:14:50] I believe that we need to act quickly in acknowledging what happened there. And so it starts with, of course, renaming Cesar Chavez.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:15:00] But that decision is not sitting well with everyone. Rendon Ortiz is calling on local leaders not to erase Chavez’s legacy. For her, it’s personal.
Bertha Rendon Ortiz [00:15:09] I felt like a wrench was thrown into our Mexican population to be confused, to fight, and to not believe in what our people stood for, the movement.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:15:24] Rendon Ortiz says this rapid change comes at a time when many Latinos feel like political targets as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement. Susana Almanza, executive director of the Austin nonprofit Bordet, says many Latinos aren’t sure what to believe anymore.
Susana Almanza [00:15:39] People were even saying, is this fake news? Is this really real? You know, people had to do a lot of searches to find out to make sure there wasn’t somebody trying to start another incident in the Latino community.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:15:55] But even as people have had time to digest the news, she says it isn’t an easy thing to wrap your head around.
Susana Almanza [00:16:01] And so it’s like, it’s very hard when you have like generations of people that have worked with and seen the work he’s done and all of a sudden, you know, this stuff comes alive.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:16:12] Emilio Zamora, a professor who specializes in Mexican-American history at UT, says it’s no surprise the community has had complicated emotions.
Emilio Zamora [00:16:20] He was an extraordinary leader and a significant historical figure in the historical experience of Mexican people. No one can deny that.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:16:32] He says, because the Mexican-American community has been historically marginalized, the people who are chosen to lead them, like Chávez, become even more important.
Emilio Zamora [00:16:40] Cesar Chavez, as significant as he was, he was often raised by the media and members of the Mexican-American community as being godlike, Gandhi-like, who was just singular and unmatched in his courage and commitment.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:17:03] But Zamora says he should be held accountable.
Emilio Zamora [00:17:05] And though someone like Chavez was, you know, organically came out of this movement, that his people favored him, and he assumed a leadership position, he still is responsible for his comportment.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:17:20] Attorney Jim Harrington founded the Texas Civil Rights Project. He also worked with Chavez. He says this is a price of placing certain people on a pedestal.
Jim Harrington [00:17:29] I think it’s always a danger to us generally when we create iconic figures, because everybody is flawed. And some people, of course, are more flawed than others.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:17:41] He says the focus should not be on Chavez, but on keeping the labor movement alive.
Jim Harrington [00:17:45] I don’t want this to diminish the respect that we should have for that struggle. And I think that we need to keep honoring that, honoring the people that are in it.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:17:58] Austin leaders and local organizers are trying to figure out what’s next. Last month, a group of council members sent a memo to the city manager asking to rename Cesar Chavez Street. The memo said they were, quote, committed to upholding the dignity and safety of survivors of sexual violence. Council members acknowledged that renaming the street would come at a cost to the City and residents. They want to hold a series of public meetings to hear from people in the area before any changes are final. The Council is expected to talk about next steps at a meeting later this month. I’m Luz Moreno-Luzano in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:18:40] Well, it is that time of year again, ATXplained Live is tomorrow night at Bass Concert Hall. And though he’s really busy right now getting ready, we have KUT’s Matt Largie. He’s KUT projects editor and creator of ATXplain. He’s here to talk with us all about it. Matt, thank you for taking a few minutes to come to Austin Signal.
Matt Largey [00:18:59] Happy to do it!
Jennifer Stayton [00:19:00] Okay, so before we get into what to expect from A.T. Explained, I just want to hear a little bit about what it takes for these stories to get told. I’ve seen you all working, you’re doing rehearsals, there’s a lot going on. Even before the rehearsals just kind of walk us through behind the scenes a little bit about getting an A. T. Explains story actually done.
Matt Largey [00:19:18] So we start this months in advance. We pick questions early on and then the reporters go out and talk to the question askers, try and figure out a little bit more about what they are looking for. And then we go out and report the story. And sometimes it’s relatively straightforward. Sometimes, often it’s not. It takes us in directions that we never really imagined. And so. That’s a lot like journalism, you know, sometimes. Yeah, those are the best ones. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so sometimes it leads us off in new directions and sometimes that can take a while to come together. And then we write some scripts and then we read them a million times in a group and try and really make them tight, try to get them to time so that the show isn’t super long. And sometimes we succeed at that. And then, we have to add in the visuals and the. The special guests and all that stuff. And so it does really take a while for it all to come together.
Jennifer Stayton [00:20:18] So Matt, ATA Explained podcast and radio stories have been going on a while, but what about, how long have the live shows been going? How many have you done?
Matt Largey [00:20:25] Now, the first one we did was in 2018. This is our 10th show. Congrats. Of course, thank you. And of course, there was a gap in there where we really couldn’t do live performances because, you know, COVID and all that. And then we started back up in 2023 and we’ve been doing them twice a year ever since. So, Matt, we talked.
Jennifer Stayton [00:20:47] The live show, there is also a podcast, there are radio stories. What’s the difference between listening to one of these stories, like an A.T. Explained story, as a podcast or radio story, and listening to it done live at the live event? Like, how is that experience different?
Matt Largey [00:21:05] I mean, as you know, I get to watch not from the audience, but I do get to watch from backstage and I get, to get to hear how people react to these stories. Um, and, and there is something very, very different about it. I mean listening to a podcast, listening to the radio, that’s sort of a really personal experience. It’s like, you are the one person that’s listening to it, but when you’re in a room with, you know. A thousand other people and you’re all experiencing this thing together. It’s, it really feels like more of a communal experience than listening to a podcast. You know, it’s, there’s an energy in the room and there’s just like a feeling of togetherness, I guess, that really comes through in these stores, especially about like a place where we all live and answering questions that we’ve all probably wondered about at one point or another. I mean, some of them at least. And it just feels so cozy to me. It’s like, it’s like a, I don’t know. It’s going to, this might come out wrong, but it feels like going to church, you know? It’s the church of Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:22:20] So Matt, I don’t want you to give anything away, but can you tell us a little bit about what’s gonna be coming from the pulpit tomorrow night?
Matt Largey [00:22:30] Um, so we’ve got a really great selection of story. I feel really good about the stories that are in this show. Um, we’ve Got stories about old TV shows. We’ve got stories about a brazen crime. Uh, we got a story about, um, a group of women who do something unusual and are really fun to hang out with. Um, that’s very vague. I know. Um, and then we’ve got, you know, we’ve got a story about public bathrooms. We’ve got a story about an iconic Texas food. Uh, you know, it just, it, it runs, it runs the spectrum.
Jennifer Stayton [00:23:13] It sounds like a little something for everybody. So Matt, this is the 10th show. That’s really awesome. How has it changed over time? Like, are you doing anything different this time, like new that you haven’t tried in these shows before?
Matt Largey [00:23:25] We’re trying some new things this time. We’ve got some very special guests.
Jennifer Stayton [00:23:32] Matt has this look on his face like I’m very intrigued. What does that mean? Are we talking like live animals? What are we talking about?
Matt Largey [00:23:38] You just gotta be there to find out.
Jennifer Stayton [00:23:40] Well, how can people be there? Where do they get tickets?
Matt Largey [00:23:42] Okay, so it’s at Bass Concert Hall, go to TexasPerformingArts.org to get your tickets. There are still some tickets left and hopefully there will be a few more tickets being released too.
Jennifer Stayton [00:23:54] Well, and we will have a link to that in today’s podcast. Show notes, we’ve been talking with KUT’s projects editor, Matt Largie, creator and producer of A.T. Explained Live. It’s tomorrow night at Bass Concert Hall. Matt, thanks so much for taking a couple of minutes to talk with us on Austin Signal. Thanks, Jen. And that’s it for us today on Austin Signal. Rene Chavez is our technical director today. Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer and Alexandra Hart is our producer. I’m Jennifer Staten and for Jerry Quijano today, thanks for being with us.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
