Watson reflects on his mayoral campaign: ‘A new beginning’

As Mayor-elect Kirk Watson prepares to assume his third term, he’s chosen to stick to his campaign messaging: He wants to cut down on the red tape involved in the development process, work across the ideological spectrum and play the role of elder statesman for the city.

“I want to start this term governing from a position where we’re in this together,” he tells the Austin Monitor.

Watson’s focus is on the future. His campaign website (which previously listed his platform and endorsements) has been replaced with a single web page, his Twitter username has been changed to “Mayor Kirk Watson,” and the banner atop his Facebook profile relays a single message in all caps: “THANK YOU, AUSTIN.”

But the heart of Watson’s message heading into office is a bit of a contradiction. On one hand, he says he wants to leave the campaign behind him. “We’re in a new beginning,” he says, “the election on Tuesday night, that ended something. And on Wednesday morning, we started something new. And it will feel really like we started something new on Jan. 6.”

On the other hand, most of his rhetoric still centers around campaign talking points, particularly the importance of working together.

“We may disagree on things … but there’s one thing we all agree on, and that is that we love Austin,” Watson says, adding, “That is part of what I consider to be the new beginning.”

Like many incoming politicians, the mayor-elect is looking to head into office with a clean slate.

When asked which advocacy groups he plans on working closely with, he responds, “I’m not going to make a list right now of the groups that immediately pop in my head. Because right now, I don’t want to leave anybody out. I’m open to hearing from any groups, even the ones that didn’t support me.”

On election night, when unofficial results showed Watson losing Travis County, but still winning the election overall (based on getting more than 60 percent of the vote from Williamson County), critics wasted no time nicknaming him the “mayor of Williamson County.”

Although Watson would go on to narrowly win Travis County after the provisional ballots were counted, the early reaction to the election results was emblematic of the broader skepticism toward his candidacy.

Throughout the campaign, critics pointed to his housing plan, an anti-CodeNEXT yard sign, the fact that he’s stepped down from previous positions, and his long tenure in Central Texas as evidence that a vote for Kirk Watson was a continuation of the status quo – i.e., Austin’s rising cost of living, lack of affordable housing and homelessness, among other issues.

Reflecting on the waves of criticism, Watson tells the Monitor, “You go through an election and by the end of it, if you’re paying attention and you’re listening, you’re a different person.”

As he waits to be sworn in, the mayor-elect is spending his days in meetings with City Council members who supported him and Celia Israel, and with his fellow newcomers – Zo Qadri, Ryan Alter and José Velásquez. “There’s a lot of demands on my time right now, which I’m happy about,” he says.

During Watson’s first run as mayor in the ’90s, he gained a reputation as somebody willing to compromise in order to get things done. This time around, as he enters office under more scrutiny, he’s keeping the message simple: “Elections come to an end. Governing must begin.”

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