André Cheek announced Monday that she is joining the race for the Gainesville City Council Ward 3 seat currently held by Myrtle Figueras. Figueras announced previously that she did not want to seek re-election on Nov. 3. “After hearing that (Figueras) was no longer going to be running for the seat ... I prayed about it and talked to people in the community who have been very encouraging and supportive and finally made the decision that I wanted to move in that direction,” Cheek told The Times.