If you like the current make-up of the Austin City Council then you should be really happy with the recent Council election results. In fact it looks like the Council “progressive” supermajority — the one that merged progressive politics with the best interests of local developers — now has an extra vote. Here’s a quick breakdown of the results.
Mayor Kirk Watson will return to office, for a full four year term, after winning 12 votes more than the 50% plus 1 needed to avoid a runoff (this number seems to shift slightly according to who is reporting it and when, but Watson comes out just above 50% in all reports). Meanwhile Council incumbents/Watson allies Vanessa Fuentes and Chito Vela coasted to reelection, especially Fuentes who had no serious opponent.
Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, the current Council’s lone Republican and lone conservative was narrowly defeated by newcomer Krista Laine, evidently adding one more “progressive” to the Council supermajority. (See our slightly more thorough look at the election in northwest Austin’s District 6 here, accompanied by an analysis of Council elections being held in November plus a look at the nationalization of local politics.)
In the District 10/West Austin seat held by Council Member Alison Alter, Marc Duchen narrowly defeated former school teacher and former legislative aide Ashika Ganguly. Ganguly was also backed by Austin’s self declared YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement. According to the County Clerk’s results page, Duchen won by 489 votes, slightly more than a one percent margin.
Duchen opposed the HOME initiative backed by YIMBYs and the Council supermajority. He is a veteran of local struggles and is generally aligned with neighborhood groups. His victory was a rare defeat for YIMBY forces in recent years, but the YIMBY loss in District 10 does not change the vote breakdown on the Council, because incumbent Alison Alter rarely sided with YIMBYs. That included opposing the HOME initiative. Alison Alter endorsed Duchen.
Council Member-Elect Marc Duchen
Duchen’s victory could instead be seen as a hold the seat win for Austin’s traditional neighborhood and environmental constituencies.
Duchen also showed during his campaign that he does not share the Council majority’s “progressive” orthodoxy regarding crime and public safety. In an August campaign email Duchen reported that he had “knocked on more than 2,000 doors and asked voters what’s most important to them.” The concern he heard the most, reported Duchen, was “public safety.” He added, “The vast majority of residents I’ve spoken with simply want to live in a community protected by a professional, well-managed force.”
Duchen continued, “It’s time to look beyond the heated rhetoric that hurts our local police, and to implement solutions that improve the quality of life in District 10 and across our community.”
District 7
Meanwhile, in Leslie Pool’s north Austin District 7 “progressive” favorite Mike Siegel will face longtime Civil Rights leader Gary Bledsoe in a runoff. Heading into the runoff Siegel leads with 40% to Bledsoe’s 19%. That is a fairly big lead, but anything could happen in the runoff with only two candidates and a smaller turnout.
The District 7 runoff takes place on December 14 with early voting running from December 2 to December 10. We don’t have time or room to cover that race here today. I will instead quickly apply one of my long time approaches for categorizing candidates. That is whether a candidate clearly just wants an office, or whether the candidate emerges from having been involved in community issues for a long time and ultimately decides to run for office. Sometimes there is overlap and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In District 7 Siegel, an ally of the current Council supermajority, is definitely in the want to be in office category. Siegel has already run for Congress twice, unsuccessfully. He ran for the seat held by Michael McCaul, a gerrymandered district that includes a sliver of of north Austin then expands westward and southward to take in College Station, areas south of Interstate 10, and some western suburbs of Houston. Siegel’s 2020 run included bragging in the media — perhaps unwisely in a predominately Republican District — about how he would soon join The Squad.
Siegel is the candidate for voters who like the policies and direction of the current Council and the previous Council. He is endorsed by Congressman/former Council Member Greg Casar, Council Members Chito Vela and Zo Qadri, former Mayor Steve Adler, and former Council Members Pio Renteria and Jimmy Flannigan, as well as by District Attorney José Garza, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
District 7 runoff candidates Mike Siegel (left) and Gary Bledsoe
Meanwhile Bledsoe is clearly among the latter group, that is people who have long worked on issues they care deeply about and then decided to run for office. As his campaign website notes, Bledsoe has served as “President of the Texas NAACP since 1991.”
Over the years I have found Bledsoe to be strong and dedicated while also an amiable human being open to discussing ideas, considering other people’s opinions and willing to entertain compromises. So, he’ll never make it on the Austin City Council; no, just kidding. On his website Bledsoe vows to focus on “Civil Rights, affordable housing and climate change.”
We don’t have the time or space to cover the District 7 race in more detail, at least at the moment. Voters can find more detail at the candidates’ websites: Siegel’s here and Bledsoe’s here.
Some Closing Thoughts on the Mayor’s Race
In closing let’s dwell just a moment more on the Mayor’s race.
Watson defeated four challengers with Carmen Llanes coming in second and barely missing a runoff contest with Watson. Llanes was well known in some circles before running, but not citywide. Her second place finish reflected hard work and an ability to connect with voters. She is a potential candidate in the future and Austin voters probably have not heard the last of her.
Watson executed the strategy we described in articles in these pages. That was:
- winning over more of the “progressive” left wing than he pulled in 2022, which he did in part through endorsements from eight Council colleagues;
- Winning the support of YIMBYs by shepherding the HOME initiative to approval; and
- Holding on to his base of more centrist voters, largely in West Austin.
Meanwhile Watson’s narrow margin, fittingly somehow, provides a post election framing for both him and his strongest critics. Watson maintained that his victory was an “extraordinary” feat given that he faced four opponents. Some of his critics, however, countered that it was extraordinary that an incumbent Mayor who raised over a million dollars was only barely able to eke out a minuscule victory.
The bottom line, however, is that Watson is still Mayor.
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