Kirk Watson and Celia Israel lead the mayoral race in funds, reputations, and housing plans.
Austin's next mayor will only serve for two years until facing reelection, following a ballot measure approved in May 2021 that moved the mayor's race to the presidential cycle. Given the crisis atmosphere in Austin politics over housing, affordability, and equity, the winner will be expected to accomplish a lot in those two years, hitting the ground running from a campaign that's likely to not end until a December run-off.
With Kathie Tovo deciding not to run , the two leading candidates are former mayor and state senator Kirk Watson and outgoing state rep Celia Israel. Watson has established himself as a juggernaut in the contest for the job he last held in 2001, with higher name ID and a colossal fundraising advantage. Watson has also locked in key labor endorsements early: the unions representing EMS medics, firefighters, hotel workers, and city of Austin civilian employees have also gone with the former mayor.
However, Jennifer Virden, a far-right Republican who nearly unseated Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter two years ago, may play a spoiler in Israel's strategy. Virden did well in the westernmost precincts in Austin, which made her competitive in the District 10 race against Alter, but her views are pretty darn fringey, even by Texas Republican standards. GOP voters only account for about 25% of the Austin electorate, so she has virtually no shot at winning citywide.
Watson and Israel have both rolled out housing strategies in response to what Watson calls an"emergency" and Israel a"historic crisis point.
Watson's plan leans on his reputation as a leader who gets big things done to tackle reforms not just to land use policies, but to a city permitting process that was beyond broken when he was mayor the first time and has not gotten much better.
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