Duchen clinches narrow win in District 10 election

Although the race was extremely close, at the end of Tuesday night Marc Duchen could claim victory in the District 10 City Council contest over his only opponent, Ashika Ganguly. Duchen finished with 20,731 votes to Ganguly’s 20,227, with only 504 votes separating the two.

Unlike some other races, the final tally did not come in until late in the evening.

While waiting for the final results, Duchen told the Austin Monitor he felt he would win. “On the whole, I feel like we’re going to pull this off. I’m optimistic I’m going to be the next District 10 Council member,” he said.

Ganguly did not return a call requesting comment.

The early vote showed Duchen with just 523 votes more than Ganguly out of more than 36,000 votes cast. That number dropped a little as the night wore on, but the outcome remained the same. If a candidate believes some votes were miscounted or not counted, he or she is able to ask for a recount.

In the head-to-head race to represent District 10 in Northwest Austin, the two well-educated and well-spoken candidates worked hard to win over voters in the second-wealthiest district of the city. District 8 in Southwest Austin has the highest median income in the city.

Although both are Democrats, Duchen, 46, and Ganguly, 29, see things from very different perspectives. Duchen told the Monitor for an earlier story, “Austin is a city full of potential, but we’re currently facing some significant challenges related to affordability, housing, transit, public safety, and parkland. … The HOME amendments to the Land Development Code were passed despite serious public concerns about displacement, increased property taxes, adequate infrastructure, emergency vehicle access and loss of trees and green space.”

His criticism of the changes to the code was a likely reason for some of his appeal to voters in District 10.

Duchen moved to the U.S. from South Africa as a child and became a naturalized citizen. He got his start in Austin politics managing Council Member Betty Dunkerley’s reelection campaign in 2005. The following year, Duchen managed a successful House race for a Democrat in a normally Republican district in Corpus Christi. He returned to Austin to work for the Texas Progress Council and served as the research director for the Texas Democratic Party. After that, he started a technology engagement company, and six years ago he returned to consulting.

Duchen has been a leader in Community Not Commodity, which fought against changes to the Land Development Code in 2017. He has also served as an officer in the Austin Neighborhoods Council. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from the Acton School of Business.

The Austin American-Statesman endorsed Duchen, as did Council Member Alison Alter, who is retiring from the District 10 seat. He also won endorsements from the Austin Sierra Club, Austin Environmental Democrats and Central Austin Democrats, as well as Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea and former Council members Laura Morrison and Brewster McCracken.

Ganguly has a BA from the University of Texas and taught grade school in Austin for five years before working for state Rep. John Bucy. She got endorsements from Council members Zo Qadri, José Velásquez, Paige Ellis and Ryan Alter. She was also endorsed by urbanist group AURA and the Vibrant Austin political action committee, as well as The Austin Chronicle.

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Posted In: Elections, District 10