Farrah Abraham Switches from Austin Mayor Bid to City Council Run

After learning Austin’s mayoral race isn’t until 2028, Farrah Abraham says she’ll run for City Council District 5 instead.

Reality TV star Farrah Abraham announced her candidacy for Austin mayor Wednesday before learning on TMZ that the race isn’t until 2028.

Known for her role on MTV's “16 and Pregnant” and its spinoff, "Teen Mom," Abraham later clarified that she will run for District 5’s city council seat instead. That position is currently held by council member Ryan Alter, who was elected in 2023.

Abraham appeared surprised on “TMZ Live” when producers of the show called City Hall during the interview and confirmed the mayoral election wasn't for another two years. Abraham also told TMZ that district races were federal and that she was “running local right now.” Council district races are, in fact, local races.

"They say keep Austin weird, and this is definitely weird," said one of the TMZ hosts.

Abraham grew up in Council Bluffs, Nebraska, and moved to Austin in 2013. She told KXAN that she was motivated to run because of housing affordability and problems for self-employed workers. She also said she wants to change state and federal income tax laws (an issue city council does not have the power to fix), and help keep more people in Austin.