Austin Mayor Kirk Watson to run for reelection; 4th candidate so far on November ballot

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is seeking reelection.

Watson served as Austin's mayor from 1997-2001 and later as a Democratic state senator for over a decade before being elected mayor again in 2022. He narrowly defeated Celia Israel in a runoff election despite outraising her 3-1.

Austin voters in 2021 opted to move the city's mayoral election on the calendar to be in line with presidential elections, so the seat is up for grabs again this November. Watson is the fourth candidate to enter the race.

"A little over a year is not enough time," Watson, who took office in early 2023 after the December 2022 runoff, told the American-Statesman in an interview regarding his candidacy. "What I want to do is focus on continuing the job we're doing but also focus on issues that the future is going to require us to focus on, and that just takes a full term."

In his 2022 campaign, Watson positioned himself as a dealmaker — someone who could bring different parties to the table on issues the city seemed to be stuck on and try to find middle ground.

Watson said he thinks he has done well on that front, pointing to the resumption of contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association and the City Council's amendment of the land development code.

Read More: Austin police union appears ready to comply with voter-approved oversight ordinance

"We were stagnated when I came into City Hall when it came to how we address those kinds of things," he said.

Watson also touted his work on the Austin Infrastructure Academy, which will open at the Austin Community College to train skilled workers, and to $65 million he secured from the state for homelessness that he says will go toward providing more noncongregate shelter.

Watson has drawn criticism over the controversial partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety that he secured in spring 2023, working with Republican state leaders Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick without input from the City Council.

Though some praised the short-lived collaboration, which was intended to ease the staffing shortages at the Austin Police Department, activists and community members opposed what they said was heavy policing of communities of color. Data showed nearly 9 of 10 people arrested on misdemeanor charges through the partnership were Black or Hispanic.

Austin officials pulled the plug on the partnership in July as community concern deepened.

Looking back on what happened, Watson told the Statesman the DPS partnership did not turn out exactly the way he wanted it to.

"I wish we would have taken a little more time to talk to people before we announced it," he said.

"I inherited a badly understaffed police department," he said. "Some that are critical of the decisions to try to get some additional help were responsible for the fact that we're badly understaffed."

Watson said one of the reasons he's pushing so hard to get a police contract is that he believes it will make a difference in the staffing vacancies.

Watson was initially supportive of interim City Manager Jesus Garza's hiring of former Police Chief Art Acevedo for an executive-level interim assistant city manager position. After backlash from a majority of the City Council and some community members, Acevedo withdrew his acceptance days after the news broke.

Read More: Art Acevedo withdraws from $271K Austin City Hall administrative position after backlash

"I knew before it was announced, but I was not involved in making the decision," Watson said. "That was the manager's call."

Watson's announcement of his bid for another term as mayor, the only at-large elected City Council seat, follows the mayoral race announcements of former Council Member Kathie Tovo; Carmen Llanes Pulido, executive director of GAVA (Go Austin/Vamos Austin); and Doug Greco, the former executive director of Central Texas Interfaith.

Announcement brings endorsements, criticism

Watson launched his official campaign website Wednesday morning with several endorsements, including those of all but two Austin City Council members who currently work alongside him at City Hall.

Alison Alter and Mackenzie Kelly were the only two who did not endorse him. Kelly, the City Council's only conservative, told the Statesman she won't be endorsing anyone because she also is on the ballot this year.

Alter told the Statesman: "Unlike in 2022, in 2024, I will not be endorsing Kirk Watson for mayor because I have learned that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Watson has acted as a bully and prevented real policy deliberations by members of the council and the public.”

Speculation about potential endorsements from the current City Council members — which is akin to a performance review from colleagues who have worked alongside him for over a year — peaked earlier this week after Jack Craver, author of the Austin Politics Newsletter, reported that it was likely Watson would get eight endorsements from council members.

That report prompted responses from some of the other candidates, including Tovo and Llanes Pulido.

In a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, Tovo, who served alongside some of the council members, said she was "astonished" to see that a majority would be endorsing Watson. She noted in her post issues like the DPS partnership, Garza's hiring of Acevedo and a proposed McKinsey & Company audit of homelessness spending and contracts that the city pulled the plug on.

"Some City Council Members have spoken out against these same issues, which makes the situation even more puzzling, if the blog endorsement rumors are true," Tovo wrote Tuesday morning.

Llanes Pulido put a post on X on Tuesday titled, "Council will endorse the problematic incumbent to protect political interests."

The Statesman will continue to monitor and provide updates on Austin's mayoral race and other City Council races on the ballot in November 2024 as more candidates announce their intent to run.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Mayor Kirk Watson seeking another term in November vote