Following are the results of Saturday's City Council Election for the City of Austin Places 1, 3, and 4. Full election results and precinct by precinct results can be found here.
Turnout: 32,869 or 7.4% of 444,139 voters in 209 precincts. Bolded candidates indicate winner, candidate in italics advanced to June 18th runoff.
I'm catching up on some key stories before heading out for Thanksgiving back home in Fredericksburg with Mayor Tom Musselman and the First Frau. Chief among those would be city politics in Austin. While last week wasn't the start of filing for office, it was the beginning of the fundraising period and public announcements by incumbents as to whether they are running for re-election.
Places 1, 3, and 4 are on next May's ballot and incumbents Chris Riley, Randi Shade, and Laura Morrison have all announced they are running for re-election with the following treasurers and advisors.
Place 1: Chris Riley
Democratic and neighborhood activist Mike Clark-Madison will serve as treasurer of Riley's re-election campaign. Longtime Austin political consultant David Butts will help lead the campaign, with support from fundraising consultant Susan Harry, who also worked for Riley's 2009 campaign. More information is available at Riley's re-election campaign website: www.ChrisforAustin.com.
Announced challengers include former Mayoral candidate Josiah Ingalls who received less than 1% of the vote in the 2009 contest against Lee Leffingwell. Riley won Leffingwell's unexpired term that year and as a result is back on the ballot aiming for a full term.
The only other rumors in the race involve Austinites for Action's Dominic Chavez who was one of a handful of people opposing this November's Proposition 1 Mobility Bond campaign. Chavez is also considering running against Laura Morrison in Place 4 but has yet to make a decision on which seat he'd prefer to run in, if either. The only thing that's different about the two seats is the margin Chavez would lose by and how much money he'd have to waste in the process.
Place 3: Randi Shade
Of the three races, this is the "hottest" but that's still not saying much. Burnt Orange Report's Katherine Haenschen, who's coming off leading the 2010 Travis County Democratic Party coordinated campaign and managed Riley's 2009 successful campaign, will be managing Shade's race. Susan Harry will serve as Shade's fundraiser. Well known consultants Mike Blizzard and Mark Littlefield will act in advisory roles.
Shade is up for her first re-election bid after defeating incumbent Jennifer Kim with 64% of the vote in 2008 which was nearly equal to then Councilmember Lee Leffingwell's margin against Jason Meeker & Friends. Shade definitely has a base from which to start but this race is already being defined as a referendum on the incumbent, much like her original race three years ago. Shade has not been one of the more visible councilmembers due in part to her governing style as well as the birth of her second child Emme just two months after taking a seat on the council dias- something Shade's campaign acknowledged in their first email to supporters.
Rumors of challengers started back in October with much of the attention being focused on former Democratic State Representative Ann Kitchen who was being urged to challenge Shade focusing on the debate over Water Treatment Plant #4. WTP4 has split the local environmental community and the council with a series of 4-3 votes pushing the project forward. Kitchen has since withdrawn her name according to the Austin Chronicle leaving environmental activist Robin Rather's name in the mix.
Rather would be a credible candidate and would occupy a lot of space to Randi's left flank which is somewhat exposed with quiet grumblings among some union players and some members of the GLBT community who don't see Shade as a fierce advocate on their behalf. But the talk about Shade keeps coming back to the Water Treatment Plant which isn't a broad enough or damaging single issue for a challenger to run on. Based on polling I've seen over the last two years, the public is pleased with the city council at above average levels and messaging around WTP4 actually works in Shade's favor. As much as people are pro-conservation in this town, when push comes to shove, they aren't willing to risk their water supply to two half century old water treatment plants (already down from three) as the city doubles in population yet again by ~2030.
I hate to say this 6 months out from the election, but the clock is ticking. If the forces behind Kitchen and now Rather don't formalize an announcement by the second week of December they will be severely weakened. That means they would have to be canvassing key voters and city political players right now to get their ducks in a row in time; every day that goes by in this 'silent campaign' period is one day closer to victory for incumbents. Even for the "buzziest" of the 3 seats, there has been remarkably little chatter, leaving Shade an opportunity to solidify some of her more 'squishy' support and pull in a lot of cash.
Place 4: Laura Morrison
Consultant David Butts will be chief consultant to Laura Morrison's re-election bid with Jim Wick filling in a campaign manager. Wick was largely responsible for Karen Sage's upset victory over Mindy Montford in the 2008 judicial primaries and recently led Rep. Valinda Bolton's field campaign. Dean Rindy will be the media consultant with Jeff Smith as pollster and former Leffingwell field hand Shawn Badgley doing field.
Morrison has evolved and grown into her position on the dais- and in a good way from most anyone you talk to. She's disarmed many potential opponents and does not have any announced challenged other than the same rumors of Dominic Chavez (see my notes under the Place 1 area). If you asked folks 3 years ago if Shade or Morrison would have a tougher re-election the vast majority would have said Morrison, myself included. That appears to be wrong. Morrison has shored up her (non-neighborhood) left flank since being elected and doesn't face any particular issues with the environmental community (she voted with Riley opposite of Shade on WTP4). That doesn't leave a lot of space for a challenger, at least among the traditional city electorate and power bases.
I expect that all three council members will end up being re-elected, continuing a long period of stability on the city council. It's quite possible that we'll have a 5 year stretch of the Leffingwell/Martinez/Cole/Shade/Morrison/Spelman/Riley council- at least until Austin votes on an expected Single-Member District plan in 2012 which could alter the makeup of the dias considerably. And both of those things, and in that order, might be what Austin needs as it finalizes a number of major long range planning processes in the next couple of years.
The Early Vote is in and Laura Morrison won it 60/40 but the margin is only 2,000 votes. While it's unexpected that the dynamic of the race changed much from this Tuesday to today's election day- low turnout could always result in surprises. BOR is not projecting a win at this time until the first E-Day results are released.
Results from Travis County ElectionsFINAL 207 of 207 Precincts Reporting
EVote EVote% EDay EDay% TOTAL TOTAL%
Laura Morrison 6,064 60.19% 7,767 69.73% 13,831 65.20%
Cid Galindo 4,010 39.81% 3,371 30.27% 7,381 34.80%
7:25- A couple of notes as I look at the precinct by precinct votes. The perfect storm of a) it being a runoff, b) a June election, and c) a Saturday election is clearly shown in that there are only 5 total early votes cast in the University of Texas campus box. Morrison won Pct. 148 3-2 (actual votes). Morrison won the other low turnout West Campus boxes... Pct 277 was 75%-25% (16 total voters) and my home Pct 266 was 70%-30% (60 total voters).
8:20- The first 10% of Election Day precincts have reported. Morrison's margin widened from 20 points in early vote to 50 points on election day.
Based upon this and commentary from the campaigns, Burnt Orange Report is calling the race for Laura Morrsion. We will continue to update the results as they come in.
8:45- Over half reporting now and Morrison continues to rack up the election day margin.
8:50- More regular updates coming out now with another 25 precinct reporting, this time, even more favorably for Morrison.
9:00- Cid Galindo managed to win both of the votes cast the University of Texas campus precinct today. As a result, he has reversed Morrison's 1-vote lead there and won the UT Campus by a 4-3 vote.
9:05- Cid Galindo has conceded and is talking to his supporters. I have to personally say that I did appreciate him running. At some point I'd like to go back to school and do my master's work in urban studies and geography (my undergrad minor) so I have a real appreciate for the perspective he brought to the table in this race.
10:05- Final report is in. Morrison wins 65-35 with almost exactly 5% total turnout for the election for a grand total of 21,212 votes cast.
A whopping 2.4% of voters cast their ballots early for the Place 4 runoff election between Laura Morrison and Cid Galindo. With just over 10,000 early voters, we'll probably see about 25,000 total voters in this election.
It's your Democracy. Election Day is this Saturday.
No wonder Laura Morrison and Cid Galindo have gone negative on each other (as negative as one can be in a runoff election). Nobody's voting. Through yesterday, just 8,053 voters cast a ballot for 1.89% turnout.
Today's the last day to vote early before Saturday's election. Burnt Orange Report has endorsed Laura Morrison.
Budget issues will dominate City Hall for the immediate future, and both candidates speak of fiscal restraint. But neither has had to wrestle a city budget hemorrhaging red ink. However, Morrison's experience on the Community Action Network Council and bringing together disparate views from the city's neighborhoods should serve her well in budget discussions.
Galindo has more to offer than the urban plan that has dominated his campaign, but planning is his expertise and his passion, which makes him seem like a single-issue candidate.
Galindo has definite ideas about how Austin should grow. He sees limiting sprawl and improving mass transit as the best answers for Austin's growth headaches and traffic congestion. Galindo's knowledge of urban planning and his service on the city's Planning Commission are impressive. He's also on the board of Envision Central Texas, a bold effort begun several years ago to institute a regional plan for growth in the Austin area and beyond.
Morrison and Galindo differ on several important points. He opposes the November vote rolling back the city's subsidies for the Domain development in North Austin. She supports it as long as the issue is confined to the Domain only. He voted against the McMansion ordinance that limits the size of homes on smaller lots in certain city neighborhoods. She helped draft the ordinance and supports it.
Over two dozen community groups in Austin have endorsed Laura Morrison for Austin City Council Place 4. Today we add our name to that list.
Early Vote starts today and we are encouraging our Austin readers to join the Austin Chronicle, Austin American Statesman, Democratic Clubs, Austin environmental groups, Better Austin Today, and the Austin Neighborhoods Council in supporting Laura Morrison.
Morrison has shown she can lead; with her years as the President of the Austin neighborhoods Council she earned the respect from friends and foes alike. She leads by earning people's respect and getting them involved in the discussion. She has the professional background in mathematics and more recently Public Health Disaster management to bring to a new voice to the city.
She has quietly built a network of support with her advocacy for open government and government accountability, while working to protect the voice of Austin Neighborhoods and Democrats.
She has put together a broad coalition, winning 27 endorsements across the community, virtually every democratic club, almost every African American and Hispanic group endorsing, and environmental and neighborhood groups.
She has proven she can organize by building the team to put progressive ideals successfully before the voters. While her opponent is focused primarily on development outside of town, Laura's top concern is protecting the quality of life of the people living here today.
She has quietly played a leading role in dozens of important community efforts including Save Town Lake, Helping to East Austin neighborhoods to organize to protect their neighborhoods, and many more.
Morrison is a proven leader and strong advocate for Austin. As the Early Vote begins, we encourage you to vote for Laura Morrison for Austin City Council Place 4.
This came via email yesterday. Given that Robin Cravey declined to endorse, a low turnout runoff means getting out your existing base and trying to draw in votes from your opponents. There's not much to be gained from Jennifer Gale/Sam Osemene/Ken Vasseau voters but Cravey had an active based that makes sense to woo.
While I expect them to be somewhat more in line with Morrison traditionally, there are elements of Galindo's vision that may appeal to this set of voters as well. In either case, both campaigns would be wise to solicit their support.
Dear Friends and Fellow Austinites,
Thanks to your votes, hard work, generosity and encouragement, I am in the run-off for Place 4 on the City Council.
I want to congratulate Robin Cravey on running an outstanding campaign. On the campaign trail, Robin and I found that we had much in common. Like me, Robin wants a plan that will finally solve the problems and answer the questions that have vexed this city for more than 20 years.
I urge all of my supporters to reach out to your friends and neighbors who supported Robin and tell them my ideas for Austin's future. I hope Robin's supporters will study the Galindo Plan and all my other positions on the issues. I think they will find much to like.
Over the next five weeks, the people of Austin will see two directions for our city. One path is the same path we've been on -- more talking, more divisions, and no solutions. The other is a bold plan to reduce traffic congestion, curb urban sprawl and protect our environment.
I think you know by now which course I want to take. The time for talk is over. It's time to break the stalemate. It's time for real solutions.
To have a chance to put my plan into action, I am going to need even more help from each of you. In particular, we need volunteers for our phone bank. And, of course, I need more of your much-appreciated campaign contributions.
We must move fast. Early voting starts May 28th and election day is June 14.
Again, thank you for that you've done and will do. Working hard and working together, we will win.
This morning I spoke by telephone with Cid Galindo and Laura Morrison. Both of them were gracious in their praise of my campaign, and I congratulated each of them on their success. I expressed my hope that the two of them would be able to continue running positive campaigns in the runoff.
Cid and Laura each let me know that they will be reaching out to the voters who supported me in the general election, and I understand that. I will not be making any endorsement in the runoff, and I let each of them know that.
I will look forward to working with both Cid and Laura in the future in whatever roles each of us may have in serving Austin.
Thanks.
-Robin
Who are you voting for in the runoff? Take the BOR poll.
Robin Cravey, the Place 4 candidate endorsed by Burnt Orange Report, has a great new video on YouTube.
Volunteer for Robin's campaign and, of course, don't forget to vote. Today is the last day to Early Vote. Everything you could want to know on the City Council races can be found here on Phillip's Resource Page.
