Northwest Austin Edition | November 2022

ELECTION RESULTS Austin mayoral race heads to runo; school districts see success

BY BEN THOMPSON

million campus improvement bond and Austin ISD’s three-part $2.44 billion bond package. Of the $3.5 billion in bonds, the city and ACC propositions as well as the two largest AISD bonds each passed by a more than 40% margin. AISD’s $47.43 million athletic facility bond passed by less than 17%. For AISD, newcomers Candace Hunter, Kathryn Whitley Chu and Andrew Gonzales and incumbent Arati Singh won seats on the board of trustees. To the north, Pugerville ISD saw approval on seven out of eight items on the ballot with narrow margins for several of the victories. Proposition A for an attendance credit election to pay $12 million to the state in recapture and Proposition B for a voter-approval tax rate election were approved by voters. Additionally, PfISD gained favor for $367.2 million in bonds for Propositions CE and Proposi- tion H to fund districtwide improvements, includ- ing campus projects, safety and security. In RRISD, several races came to a head as Estevan Jesus Chuy Zarate, Amber Feller, Alicia Markum, Amy Weir and Tianie Harrison won spots on the board of trustees. Darcy Sprague, Katy McAfee and Grace Dickens contributed to this report.

And I wish we could have won outright, but we will take our winning message that has resonated tonight and take it back out to the electorate and bring this election home,” Israel told Community Impact . At his downtown watch party at Speakeasy, Watson said he was not surprised to see the contest head to a one-on-one matchup and that he wel- comes the opportunity to continue his campaign to get things done at City Hall. “I’m excited about the level of enthusiasm that I see from my supporters,” Watson told Community Impact . “I always anticipated there was a good likelihood of being in a runo, so there’s nothing surprising. Candidly, it’s an exciting opportunity to have another ve weeks to communicate with voters.” With 18.44% of the vote, Jennifer Virden nished in third place and fell short of the runo. Phil Campero Brual, Anthony Bradshaw and Gary S. Spellman all nished below 3% on election night. Bonds pass in Austin, Pugerville Voters backed Austin’s $350 million aordable housing bond, Austin Community College’s $770

Austinites will pick their next mayor in December runo elections. Bonds for several school districts gained voter approval in the November elections along with several school board members for Round Rock ISD. Austin’s remaining contests will be decided in runos Dec. 13, and all winners will be sworn in Jan. 6. A runo election is called when no candi- date passes 50% of the vote in the general election. Mayoral nalists face o In the mayor’s race, Austinites will make a nal choice between two established Democrats with state legislative experience. State Rep. Celia Israel secured her place in the runo after leading the general election with 121,862 votes, and former Mayor and state Sen. Kirk Watson placed second with 106,508 votes. During a rainy election night party at Lustre Pearl East, Israel said she was excited about the initial outcome and that she plans to change “absolutely nothing” about the campaign she ran this year in the ve weeks ahead of the runo. “We have the bold and the visionary policies that will resonate with this electorate one more time.

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Thursday, December 8, 2022 JW Marriott 5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Join us for the largest business event of the year! We will recognize finalists, announce winners across multiple categories, and network with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and elected officials. After the awards show, we will end the evening with an afterparty featuring live music from The Nightowls!

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