Susanna Ledesma-Woody, who came very close to defeating longtime incumbent Travis County Precinct 4 Commissioner Margaret Gómez in the March 1 Democratic primary, said she is withdrawing her request for a recount. As of Wednesday, Gómez had 11,021 votes and Ledesma-Woody had 10,773 out of a total of 21,794 votes cast, according to data from […]
Elections
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After razor-thin loss, Ledesma-Woody says she’ll seek a recount
After losing to incumbent Margaret Gómez by just 219 votes out of 21,677 cast in the Travis County Commissioner Precinct 4 race, challenger Susanna Ledesma-Woody announced Wednesday that she would seek a recount. During most of Tuesday night’s ballot counting, it appeared that Ledesma-Woody would defeat Gómez and end her county career after more than […]
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Gómez wins tight race against Ledesma-Woody
Margaret Gómez, who has been the Travis County Precinct 4 commissioner for more than 27 years, was widely expected to win reelection by defeating opponent Susanna Ledesma-Woody in the Democratic primary on Tuesday. Ledesma-Woody and Gómez battled over this seat on the Travis County Commissioners Court in 2018. At that time, Gómez defeated Ledesma-Woody with […]
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Shea cruises to Precinct 2 win
Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea defended her eight-year commissionership last night, resoundingly winning the Precinct 2 primary – and de facto the entire election given the substantial Democratic majority in Travis County – by fending off progressive challenger Bob Libal. “I am honored to have the support of so many of the voters in Precinct […]
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Ledesma-Woody says she’s still in county commissioner race
Susanna Ledesma-Woody, who is running to unseat Margaret Gómez, the incumbent Travis County commissioner for Precinct 4, has erroneously filed a form indicating she does not intend to accept any future political contributions or make any expenditures. Ledesma-Woody told the Austin Monitor that the form was filed in error last week and would be corrected […]
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Former Texas state Sen. Kirk Watson running for Austin mayor
Former state Sen. Kirk Watson, who served as Austin mayor from 1997 to 2001, announced Tuesday he is launching a bid for his old job. “It’s official, I’m running to be the next Austin mayor!” Watson posted on Twitter. “Austin is special, but we’re facing a lot of challenges ahead. By working together, we can […]
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Election officials say Texas’ new ID rules for voting by mail could cause more ballots to get rejected
Lee esta historia en español. More people’s mail-in ballots could be rejected in the March primary because of Texas’ new ID matching requirement, local election officials say. The requirement is part of Texas’ new voting law, Senate Bill 1. A provision of the law requires that the ID number on the application for a vote-by-mail ballot, […]
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Vela sworn in as District 4 Council member
José “Chito” Vela, who won the election to become the second City Council member for District 4 on Jan. 25, was sworn in Monday morning and took his seat on the dais. Vela joined Council before a large group of family and friends who gathered at City Hall for the occasion. Mayor Pro Tem Alison […]
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Vela easily wins District 4 race
A look at the election results Tuesday night showed that José “Chito” Vela would handily defeat his six opponents in the special election to replace outgoing Council Member Greg Casar. Vela won 2,137 votes for 59.23 percent. His closest rival, Monica Guzmán, received just 495 votes for 13.72 percent of the vote. Coming in third […]
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County puts millions toward increasing wages for election workers
The Travis County Commissioners Court is investing big in election infrastructure, putting $1.3 million toward a voting system upgrade, including $700,000 to raise wages for all election workers in the county. “The agenda includes significant investments in our electoral system that are going to continue to make Travis County’s one of the safest, most fair […]
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Clerk calls out voter suppression under new law
While the authors of Texas Senate Bill 1 call it “an act relating to election integrity and security, including by preventing fraud in the conduct of elections in this state,” Texas Democrats call it voter suppression. At a press conference Tuesday, Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir described the difficulty voters are having requesting vote-by-mail ballots, […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Celia Israel announces run for Austin mayor
State Rep. Celia Israel has made it official: On a chilly Tuesday morning at Parque Zaragoza in East Austin, Israel announced that she would be running for mayor of Austin. She was joined by supporters Rubén Cantú, Ashley Cheng, Nelson Linder, Sofia Reyes and state Rep. Donna Howard. In her speech, Israel pledged to “use […]