Austin mayor hopeful Kirk Watson raises another $244k, far surpassing challengers

Kirk Watson continues to distance himself from the pack in Austin's mayoral race with a massive money edge that raises doubts about the viability of all the other candidates.

According to new campaign finance reports, Watson has $821,000 on hand for the race's final month while his main challenger, Celia Israel, has only $65,000. A third candidate, Jennifer Virden, has only $11,000 remaining, not including the $300,000 she loaned to her campaign and which she appears hesitant to spend.

The cash-on-hand gap is maybe the clearest sign yet that Israel and Virden cannot match the firepower of Watson, who remains popular in Austin after serving 13 years in the Texas Senate and four years as the city's mayor. His campaign war chest not only helps Watson on Election Day, but it will come in handy if he fails to earn a majority vote and instead goes into a runoff.

Israel, in launching her campaign in January, said to win she needed to raise $1 million. She is nowhere near that mark, raising $97,000 this period and $350,000 overall.

More:Why did longtime lawmakers Kirk Watson, Celia Israel set sights on Austin mayor's office?

After Watson's campaign team boasted in a news release Wednesday about their fundraising success, Israel's campaign sent an email downplaying her finance report and instead announcing that she is hosting a fundraiser with U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.

The financial reports, which were posted Wednesday, cover three months through September. Watson raised $244,000, and, combined with contributions he reported earlier in the year, he has now raised $1.2 million.

The report was the first glimpse into Stand Together Austin, the political action committee that formed to help Watson. The committee raised $298,000, and has $204,000 left.

Israel is getting help from Opportunity ATX PAC, but the city did not approve the committee's registration until last week, after the reporting deadline. The first window into the PAC's finances won't come until the next reporting period, eight days before the Nov. 8 election.

In this reporting period, Watson received the maximum $450 contribution from 233 individual donors.

Virden raised $32,000 in this reporting period and now has raised a total of $163,000.

Finance reports were not uploaded for the race's three other candidates: Anthony Bradshaw, Phil Brual and Gary Spellman.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin mayor candidate Kirk Watson raises another $244,000