Kirk Watson avoids runoff, secures new term as Austin mayor

Kirk Watson has officially won a new term as Austin’s next mayor.

Watson led his four challengers on Nov. 5, but did not have enough votes to claim victory outright. He had to win a majority of the vote, or 50% plus one vote, to secure a new term and avoid a runoff.

After adding in overseas military ballots, certain domestic mail-in ballots and provisional ballots – which were counted through Tuesday – Watson enough votes to avoid the runoff with Carmen Llanes Pulido, who had the second most votes.

Final tallies released Thursday showed him to have earned 175,090 votes, about 13 votes over the threshold he needed to avoid a runoff. Those votes include tallies across Travis, Williamson and Hays counties.

“I want to thank voters for their confidence in me, and for electing me to serve as Austin mayor for a 4th time,” Watson said in a written statement. “We knew that winning outright, with no runoff, against four opponents in a presidential year would be extraordinary.”

Llanes Pulido told KUT in a written statement she was waiting for an official tally from the three counties.

“We owe it to Austinites who have made it clear that they want new and accountable leadership, to ensure that every single vote is accurately counted and every voice is heard,” she said.

She said she has not decided if she will seek a recount.

This will be the fourth time Austin has elected Watson as mayor.

Watson first served as mayor in 1997 and stepped down in 2001 to run for attorney general. He lost that race to Gov. Greg Abbott. He served in the Texas Senate for 13 years before running again for mayor in 2022. That race was decided in a runoff election against Celia Israel. He won with just 933 more votes than her.

Watson raised over $1 million during his latest campaign – more than double his opponents’ cash combined.

Under Watson’s reign, the Austin City Council has made sweeping changes to the city’s land code, opened and extended a temporary homeless shelter, and signed a five-year, $218 million with the city’s police union. He faced criticism for these efforts as well as a partnership with DPS to add patrols in the city.

Watson told KUT in a new term he and the council will remain focused on addressing affordability, workforce development and homelessness.

“Two years have gone by pretty fast and we have made enormous strides,” Watson said. “In fact, a lot of people think when I came in that City Hall didn’t move fast enough and was too slow and inefficient, and I think most people would agree now that it moves with a different speed and that we are getting things done. But we are not done.”

When Watson was elected in 2022, his term was limited to two years. That was part of an effort to align mayoral races with presidential elections to increase voter turnout. Normally mayor and council members serve four-year terms.

Watson’s new term will allow him the full four years.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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