diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b51d2c0d8217d22c36e9144dbc0fdaf8cfd0685c..de320b59a3ae43020889d62362e2a9a0ff6c18cb 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ env:
     - CONFIG=opt TEST=c++
     - CONFIG=opt TEST=node
     - CONFIG=opt TEST=ruby
+    - CONFIG=opt TEST=python
 script:
   - rvm use $RUBY_VERSION
   - gem install bundler
diff --git a/src/python/src/setup.py b/src/python/src/setup.py
index 26121dcfab681ce19ec29b713b031ce7ecde7c96..cdb82a9dc35208c03aa86c04edef50b5c260f6c2 100644
--- a/src/python/src/setup.py
+++ b/src/python/src/setup.py
@@ -47,8 +47,9 @@ _EXTENSION_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES = (
 )
 
 _EXTENSION_LIBRARIES = (
-    'gpr',
     'grpc',
+    'gpr',
+    'rt',
 )
 
 _EXTENSION_MODULE = _core.Extension(
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
index 5a3c720ba56fa363b52147f3c7be4dfe672152a5..de633083c352649acddb96e34e591f2003c106c4 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
@@ -33,10 +33,9 @@ set -ex
 # change to grpc repo root
 cd $(dirname $0)/../..
 
-make -j6
-
 root=`pwd`
-virtualenv python2.7_virtual_environment
+rm -rf python2.7_virtual_environment
+virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python2.7 python2.7_virtual_environment
 source python2.7_virtual_environment/bin/activate
 pip install enum34==1.0.4 futures==2.2.0 protobuf==3.0.0-alpha-1
 CFLAGS=-I$root/include LDFLAGS=-L$root/libs/opt pip install src/python/src
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
index 06ddb8e41ace0e590cccc96691cefce3be3a7414..9c7dea008dba914fe873ee2cbd28df8ff053bcce 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_python.sh
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$root/libs/opt
 source python2.7_virtual_environment/bin/activate
 # TODO(issue 215): Properly itemize these in run_tests.py so that they can be parallelized.
 # TODO(atash): Enable dynamic unused port discovery for this test.
-python2.7 -B test/compiler/python_plugin_test.py --build_mode=opt
+# TODO(mlumish): Re-enable this test when we can install protoc
+# python2.7 -B test/compiler/python_plugin_test.py --build_mode=opt
 python2.7 -B -m grpc._adapter._blocking_invocation_inline_service_test
 python2.7 -B -m grpc._adapter._c_test
 python2.7 -B -m grpc._adapter._event_invocation_synchronous_event_service_test
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
index b7370327ddd7b55d4ed6181593aeee1db2acd6b3..e949670b8c9de1b0e84d3fadb490eca84040b8b4 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ class PythonLanguage(object):
     return [config.job_spec('tools/run_tests/run_python.sh', None)]
 
   def make_targets(self):
-    return[]
+    return ['static_c']
 
   def build_steps(self):
     return [['tools/run_tests/build_python.sh']]