The city’s Ethics Review Commission has issued a letter of notification to City Council Member Paige Ellis, documenting a handful of campaign contributions that exceeded campaign finance rules and were not returned to donors in a timely fashion. Last week the commission held its initial hearing on a complaint brought by Doug Keenan, a resident […]
November 2022 elections
Posted inElections
Qadri credits focus on housing in win for D9 seat
Political newcomer Zohaib “Zo” Qadri will represent City Council District 9 beginning in January, defeating challenger Linda Guerrero by 352 votes, according to unofficial totals reported Tuesday night. The final vote for the two-candidate runoff according to Travis County elections officials was 7,276 for Qadri to 6,924 for Guerrero. Qadri’s win brings a marked change […]
Posted inElections
Kirk Watson, who first led the city two decades ago, is elected mayor of Austin again
Lee esta historia en español By a razor-thin margin, Austin voters chose Kirk Watson as the city’s next mayor, electing him to navigate soaring housing costs and contentious fights playing out over how to build for the city’s growing population. Watson squeaked out a win with just 886 more votes than his opponent, state Rep. Celia Israel, […]
Posted inElections
South Austin picks Ryan Alter for District 5 seat
Although every vote counts, it was clear when the early vote numbers were released Tuesday night that Ryan Alter would prevail over opponent Stephanie Bazan in the contest for the District 5 City Council seat. After eight years in office, Ann Kitchen is retiring and newcomer Alter will be taking over in January. Alter told […]
Posted inElections
Austin is holding runoff elections for mayor and City Council. Why don’t people vote in these races?
Beto O’Rourke. Sure, you’ve heard of him. Greg Abbott? Duh. Herschel Walker. You’ve probably heard of him, too. (If you haven’t, here you are.) But what about Celia Israel? Ryan Alter? Linda Guerrero? Walking out of a coffee shop in North Austin on Monday, Paige Henney conceded those last three names may be less familiar – even […]
Posted inElections
Lawsuit challenging city decision on Fair Campaign money fails
A Travis County judge has denied a temporary restraining order request from two City Council candidates who claim they were wrongly disqualified from receiving public campaign funds. District 3 candidate José Velásquez and District 5 candidate Ryan Alter filed the request in the 455th Civil District Court on Monday morning. The suit claimed they were […]
Posted inElections
Only Silva and Guerrero to get Fair Campaign money
The city’s Law Department has decided that only two runoff candidates – Daniela Silva in District 3 and Linda Guerrero in District 9 – are eligible to receive money from the city’s Fair Campaign Finance Fund. That means each of them will receive half of the $66,126.54 in the fund, or $33,063.27. Guerrero and Silva […]
Posted inElections
Which candidates will receive the city’s Fair Campaign money?
Runoff candidates who followed the rules for receiving disbursements from Austin’s Fair Campaign Finance Fund are expecting to receive thousands of dollars to help them in the Dec. 13 runoff election. Those candidates include Daniela Silva and Linda Guerrero and possibly José Velásquez, Zohaib Qadri and Ryan Alter. Silva and Velásquez will be competing in […]
Posted inHousing
Builder: Without new affordability bonds, projects would be ‘few and far between’
The new round of bonds providing $350 million to fund affordable projects couldn’t have come at a better time for developers of affordable housing in Austin. The combination of fierce land costs locally, inflation increasing construction costs on all housing projects by around 14 percent and interest rate increases making borrowing more expensive has made […]
Posted inElections
Austin ISD’s $2.44 billion bond package passes with overwhelming support
Lee esta historia en español If results do not appear below, refresh the web page. Voters have approved Austin ISD’s $2.44 billion bond package, the largest in the district’s history. Five seats on the AISD Board of Trustees were also up for grabs. Four new members were elected to the board and one incumbent won […]
Posted inElections
Guerrero and Qadri set for runoff in District 9
With six candidates on the ballot and the incumbent term-limited, the District 9 City Council race fulfilled its promise Tuesday night as one of the most competitive contests on the ballot. None of the candidates cleared the 50 percent threshold needed, so progressive political professional Zo Qadri and longtime educator and environmentalist Linda Guerrero will […]
Posted inElections
Israel and Watson will head to December runoff in the race to elect Austin’s next mayor
Lee esta historia en español More than half of Austin voters could not agree on one candidate to be the city’s next mayor, so voters will return to the polls in a month to determine the winner. Celia Israel had 40% of the vote and Kirk Watson had 35%, according to unofficial results. Because both […]