Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is ahead in the city’s mayoral race with just over 50% of the vote, according to unofficial voting totals.
It appears the incumbent might be able to eke out an outright win over his four opponents and avoid a runoff election in December. But voters may not have final results for at least several more days.
“I don’t count chickens until they are hatched,” Watson told KUT News at an election watch party Tuesday. “[But] I’m very excited and happy with the numbers so far.”
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Mayoral and City Council candidates must receive a majority of votes, or 50% plus one vote, to be declared winners. When no candidate passes this threshold, the two candidates who receive the most votes head to a second election.
In the mayoral race, there are still a few thousand provisional and mail-in ballots that need to be counted. The county has until Nov. 19 – the state’s deadline to certify results – to finalize the count. Provisional ballots are those cast by a resident whose eligibility to vote is uncertain.
If it turns out Watson does not have more than 50% of the vote, he’ll face Carmen Llanes Pulido in a runoff. Llanes Pulido, who runs the nonprofit Go Austin/Vamos Austin, received about 20% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
“It’s not over till it’s over,” she told KUT News on Wednesday.
Llanes Pulido said she would be open to a recount. Candidates can petition for a recount, but are on the hook for the cost.
“It’s not something I would pursue unless it really looked like there were grounds for such a thing,” she said.
If Watson wins, this will be the fourth time Austin voters have elected him mayor.
Watson first served as Austin’s mayor in the late 1990s. He left that job to run for attorney general, a race he lost to now-Gov. Greg Abbott.
After serving as a state lawmaker for 13 years, Watson ran (again) to be Austin’s mayor in 2022. He won that seat by fewer than 900 votes in a runoff election against Celia Israel.
Watson has moved swiftly with policy changes in his first two years (back) in office, and so the former state senator has a lot to defend. His opponents have criticized him over several moves, including a deal he brokered with state police to add patrols to the city, his push to dedicate funds to opening a temporary homeless shelter and his votes in favor of land code changes.
Beating Watson would mean overcoming a candidate who has raised – and spent – a considerable amount of money. Since January, the mayor has raised just over $1 million, more than double his opponents’ cash combined. He has spent nearly all of that.
This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT. It has been updated.
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