Mike Bonin remains in middle of City Council race, though he dropped out 9 months ago
AUSTIN — Two years ago, in October 2016, Mike Bonin was the only candidate running for mayor in Austin. Today he’s the only candidate still in a run for mayor.
“I’m glad it’s (still) open,” Bonin said Friday after filing an application to run for the mayor’s office. “I still like the process.”
Since then, Bonin has remained in the middle of the two-ticket race, even after his mother and father passed away in May. A former city council member, Bonin was on the ballot for the first time in his run for mayor in 2014.
In 2016, he was the only candidate in both parties on the ballot in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. At the time, Bonin was a volunteer organizer for John Cornyn, the Republican candidate for Senate.
Austin’s municipal elections begin Aug. 2, and the deadline for filing petitions for those races has passed. The city clerk’s office announced Friday Bonin’s withdrawal, and his campaign filed to drop his name from the ballot.
“There have been changes in the past year, and I have come to the conclusion it’s not a good time for me to (remain in the race),” Bonin said.
His announcement comes after his candidacy for the municipal offices lapsed on Jan. 1, 2016.
Bonin, 41, a former state representative from southeast Travis County who served on the House and Senate for 16 years and chaired the Texas Tech Research Council, said he’s currently in conversations about the future.
Mayor of a city where he worked
Mike Bonin is a first generation American who grew up in the Hill Country. As a student at Lone Star College Prep in Temple, he took classes from former Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams.
Bonin has written four books: “The Future of Business in America,” “The Next Big Thing: Texas Tech University,” “The Next Generation of Business: the Rise of Texas Tech University —” and “Innovating at Texas Tech: the RISE Initiative.”
He’s a graduate of