Election News

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson appears to avoid runoff by 31 votes

Current Mayor Kirk Watson was reported to receive 50.01 percent of the vote.

Photo courtesy of KVUE

In addition to the presidential race, Texas Senate race and many others, voters in Austin had another major contest to consider: the race for mayor.

Current Mayor Kirk Watson appeared to narrowly avoid a runoff with 100 percent of precincts reporting him receiving 50.01 percent of the vote. With five candidates on the ballot, a single candidate needed to receive 50 percent of the vote, plus one vote, to not require a runoff. Watson has 50 percent of the vote plus 31 votes.

Watson delivered a speech on Tuesday night as he led the race against four challengers: former Austin City Council member Kathie Tovo, community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido, interfaith organizer Doug Greco and construction company owner Jeff Bowen.

Here are the latest results:

Austin Mayor Last Updated: November 6, 2024, 12:44:22 am

Kirk Watson*: 50.01 percent (174,576 votes)
Carmen Llanes Pulido: 20.15 percent (70,336 votes)
Kathie Tovo: 16.64 percent (58,072 votes)
Jeffrey Bowen: 8.4 percent (29,308 votes)
Doug Greco: 4.81 percent (16,797 votes)
More Results » Vote Total: 349,089

More on Kirk Watson

Watson officially announced his reelection campaign in April and filed his paperwork to appear on this year's ballot in July. He has served his current term since the start of last year. And if he's reelected, he'll continue to serve as Austin's mayor until 2029.

In his campaign announcement, Watson said since starting his role in 2023, he helped the city by adding housing reforms, filling empty positions within the Austin Police Department, launching the Austin Infrastructure Academy, and working to help the city's homelessness concerns.

If Watson is reelected, he said he wants to make climate change response more of a priority by closing down part of Austin Energy's Fayette Power Plant.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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