Austin mayor race might head into runoff election in December

Austin mayoral race may head into runoff

It appears the incumbent Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has a good chance at keeping his title, but he might have to go into a runoff election with another candidate before it's official.

AUSTIN, Texas - It appears the incumbent Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has a good chance at keeping his title, but he might have to go into a runoff election with another candidate before it's official.

A big-ticket item this election for Austinites was the mayoral race. Watson, was facing four challengers this year: Jeffrey Bowen, Doug Greco, Kathie Tovo, and Carmen Llanes Pulido.

"I'm very grateful that Austinites consider the experience, the records, the priorities of the five candidates in this race and cast their ballots accordingly, said Watson.

Election 2024: Austin city council races

There will be some familiar faces and some new ones on the Austin City Council next year. We learned some of the winners, but we won't know who will occupy other seats until a runoff election in December.

For a candidate to win, they need 50% of the votes plus one vote.

If no single candidate wins more than 50% of the total votes cast in the race, there is a runoff between the two candidates who received the first and second-highest number of votes.

The votes are still being counted, but Watson has 50% of the votes plus 31 votes, according to his campaign team.

He is followed by Carmen Llanes Pulido with 20% of the votes, Kathie Tovo with 17%, Jeffrey Bowen with 8% and Doug Greco with 5%.

We still have to wait for election officials to certify the results, which could change due to an unknown number of mail-in ballots.

Election 2024: Kirk Watson speaks in downtown

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson spoke in downtown Austin on Election night

But Kirk Watson says he's confident in the numbers.

"You can't call an election with just early vote. Although the numbers, I think, show that the trends show that. And we're going to give you a lot of confidence that we're going to be able to win, to have it all counted, we'll be able to declare victory," said Watson.

But he could face Carmen Llanes Pulido in a runoff. If the race goes to a runoff, it’ll be on December 14.

In 2022, Kirk Watson was elected as the mayor after narrowly defeating his opponent by fewer than 1,000 votes in the runoff election. The race was close with Watson receiving 57,346 votes.

His opponent, Celia Israel, was just short at 56,460.

Watson took to social media Wednesday, saying in part, "We knew from the beginning that with five candidates and a presidential race it would be extraordinary to get over 50%. We did great and received far more votes than the other four candidates—100,000 more than the second-place finisher."

Watson says he’s proud of the work that's been done to put affordability first, with more housing options, more transportation options, more childcare options, more career options, among others.

"We are getting things done at city hall, but there's more to be done. And we've made all that while. We've made a lot of progress while we've stabilized things at city hall. And we're finally now in a place, I think, to build even more and really chart a new course for Austin’s future," Watson said.

The city says it still needs to count ballots mailed in from overseas and military voters. The deadline for that is November 12.

The city says the election results will be certified on November 19.