What may have seen impossible in the immediate wake of her third-place finish in this spring's Austin Mayor race, may actually end up happening. The Statesman's Jason Embry has reported that Carole Strayhorn has had discussions with Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie about seeking the party's nomination for comptroller.
Strayhorn, who has run for office as a Democrat, Republican, and Independent, has served as Mayor of Austin, railroad commissioner, and, before incumbent Susan Combs took office in 2007, comptroller.
The Statesman's Gardner Selby had previously reported that Strayhorn had contacted Houston Mayor Bill White, the leading Democratic candidate for governor, about her possible candidacy for comptroller.
“We will rely on our voters to consider each candidate’s record and decide if they have the Democratic credentials they want in a nominee. Our role is to run a fair primary.”
While former Congressman Nick Lampson said he was considering running and State Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) briefly thought about entering the race, no Democrat has decided to challenge Combs yet.
If Strayhorn decides to run, she will have a lot of explaining to do for her Republican past and, given the frequency of her attempts at electoral office, she will have to also prove that she truly wants to be comptroller. Despite her negatives, she has won at least four or five statewide elections, and certainly has higher name ID than probably any other potential rival to Combs, whose campaign has $4 million on hand.
This map is courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman which did a great job putting it together after the election. I expect we'll see some more from the Austin Chronicle tomorrow.
I think it's pretty clear that Lee if Mayor of Austin, all of it. Though Brewster was able to win one west campus precinct and the downtown precinct covering 6th Street. Other than that, it was slim pickings for Carole and Brewster on the peripheral precincts.
Runoff is Saturday, June 13; Riley Defeats Cavazos Nearly 2:1 in Place 1
Mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken will be forced to go to a runoff to decide who will be the next Mayor of Austin. The runoff will be Saturday, June 13.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Lee Leffingwell finished with a commanding lead on the field of five candidates with 47.26% of the vote. He won almost the same percentage of votes through the early vote period as he did on election day. Full results can be found here:
Election results from the Travis County Elections Division were reported throughout the night here at Burnt Orange Report through our site's new @texaselections widget. The results tally 58,630 votes cast, representing 13.01% of registered voters.
For about twenty minutes in the evening it looked like Leffingwell may tick up fast enough to reach the 50% threshold. But as more boxes came in, the returns evened out, and it became clear that a highly anticipated runoff would soon become a reality. Behind Leffingwell, Brewster McCracken won 26.8% of the vote, which will be enough to send him into a runoff. Slightly behind McCracken, once-Austin mayor and former Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn finished has 21.43% of the vote, leaving her in a disappointing third place.
Burnt Orange Report writer David Mauro reported earlier in the night that in 1997, Ronney Reynolds conceded rather than face a runoff against Kirk Watson, who received 48.47% in his initial election. However, McCracken's campaign has clearly stated that McCracken will go forward for the runoff.
Rounding out the election returns for mayor, David Buttross won 3.84% of the vote, but may still be in for some exciting news. Earlier in the evening he went to the hospital for the possible birth of his second child. KXAN news is reporting Buttross and his wife were expecting a child before the night was over. Fourth place and a new child -- I'll bet he'll still be happy.
Josiah Ingalls, however, will have less to smile about. He finished in last place, with only 0.69% of the vote. Josiah has announced that he will be looking for a job on Monday -- he recently lost his position at the Hilton Hotel.
Riley Defeats Cavazos 65.52% - 34.48% in Place 1; Spellman, Martinez, & Cole Win Big
In the Austin City Council Place 1, which was expected to be the only other real contest on the ballot, Chris Riley defeated Perla Cavazos with over 65.52% of the vote. Cavazos thanked Riley for a hard-fought campaign, as Riley celebrated his victory with many supporters tonight, including Burnt Orange Report writer and Riley campaign manager, Katherine Haenschen.
In Place 2, Mike Martinez won a commanding 84.97% over Jose Quintero. Martinez' 43,630 votes were the most any candidate received in Saturday's election.
In Place 6, Sheryl Cole also won a decisive victory over Osemene Sam. Over 83.17% of voters chose Cole for the seat.
And finally, Bill Spellman won his unanimous election to Austin's Place 6 seat. Though he only needed his own, he did get 43,104 of the 58,630 voters to choose him, anyways.
To re-read Burnt Orange Report's all-night election coverage, scroll through our Twitter widget below for the recaps and updates we posted throughout the night.
Oh, and for you Chris Riley voters out there, don't forget to bike the vote in this afternoon.
What: Vote for Chris Riley, with Chris Riley!
When: Sunday May 3, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Where: Wooldridge Square Park / Travis County Court House, 1000 Guadalupe
Why: For a cleaner, greener, more bikeable Austin
More: http://www.chrisforaustin.com/VOTE
It continues the Strayhorn message which is to attack Lee and Brewster. Though the tacking on of Cavazos in the ad seems a bit disjointed to the overall message.
We've reached that time, just days before the start of early voting in municipal elections, when campaigns finally take to the airwaves with their television buys. What fantastically awesome and awful ads await us this year? Continue on below to find out!
Mayoral Race: Brewster McCracken
Folksy-ish music? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Actually see candidate talking? Yes.
Total number of pears left uneaten in family room? 7.
Folksier music? Yes.
On campaign message? It almost runs over you.
Walking into City Hall shot? No, like last year.
Actually see candidate talking? No, like last year.
Haven't we seen this footage before? Yes, like, you get the picture.
Likelihood for Phillip Martin to "hate" this: High.
Creepy, ominous music? Yes.
Creepy, fake cheery voice? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes, if crazy is a message.
City Hall shot? No, apparently City Hall moved since she was mayor.
Place 1: Chris Riley
Folksy music? Yes.
Number of bicycles in ad. 1.
Number of posed children. 5.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Born and raised inside city hall? Possibly.
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Folksy music? Oh hell no.
Urban pseudo-latin spicy music? Oh hell yes!
Most memorable but most undefined message? Possibly.
Gives pro-downtown impression when played with sound off? Ironically, yes.
Laura Morrison-esque downtown building hate? NOOOOOOO! (meaning yes).
Number of Cesar Chavez Cavazos Cervezas I need now? Seis.
Seeing that neither Carole Strayhorn or Brewster McCracken has any hope of overcoming the staggering pile of endorsements that the Leffingwell campaign has racked up (30), I'm more interested in the battle for second place that occurs to be going on between the two of them.
Before today, it stood at.
Carole Stayhorn: 2
BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association)
Small Business Group (so small no one can find it)
Brester McCracken: 0.5
ALGPC (co-endorsement with Leffingwell)
Well, BIG NEWS. Carole is pulling away after having SHOCKINGLY won the endorsement of ChangeAustin.org (even though she never showed up to their candidate forum which Leffingwell attended).
Here were their endorsements as emailed.
ChangeAustin.org, formerly Stop Domain Subsidies (Prop 2) in last November's election, proudly endorses:
Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Mayor
Perla Cavazos, Place 1
Mike Martinez, Place 2
Bill Spelman, Place 5
Sam Osemene, Place 6
ChangeAustin.org is working to reach 30,000 voters before the election in May, just a portion of the 123,209 voters who supported Prop 2, to get them to the polls.
The big question now is who will get the Austin Women's Political Caucus endorsement tomorrow? And who exactly would it be an upset for if they got it? Carole because Leffingwell has 90% of all group endorsements? Or Leffingwell over Carole even though he lacks certain feminine parts? Or Brewster over anyone? Or Buttross or Ingalls over Brewster because it would vault them ahead of him by half in the endorsement count?
So this week I've finally started seeing some yardsigns for Carole Stayhorn scattered around town for her Mayoral campaign. Of course, of the dozen or so I've seen, half of those were in one yard.
So where is Carole? Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams has found her!
Twitter: Just saw a "Carol Keeton Rylander for Comptroller" billboard on I-30 in Fort Worth. Wasn't that 2002?
Carole Strayhorn- out of touch with Austin and stuck in the past? Sounds about right.
I have two more local organizational endorsements to report on which include the first one that Lee Leffingwell has lost outright. Of course, the campaign tells me they had expected to lose it, but to a different candidate. That endorsement is from BOMA (Building Owners & Managers Association of Austin) and they figured that Mike Levy or Brewster McCracken would win it.
WRONG. Carole Strayhorn woke up her campaign and snagged herself an endorsement!
Here's what I've confirmed (and will update if you have info).
MAYOR: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: No Endorsement
Again, no upsets, other than the second no endorsement for Councilwoman Sheryl Cole that I'm aware of. Of course, and not to be judgmental, her no endorsements haven't really come from the most active clubs edit: (traditionally- ATJ has since merged with Latinos for Texas which is a positive development for both groups and the community). Still, it does signal some dissatisfaction from locals that maybe she could be more proactive on council (or are upset about her opposition to moving towards single-member districts).
Of course, ChangeAustin.org met last Saturday and Leffingwell was the only candidate to show up I'm told, thwarting the group's original intent to endorse Strayhorn. Reports also indicated that Strayhorn couldn't attend because she was looking for Kevin. Kevin, yoo hoo, where is Kevin?
Wow, this is absolutely crazy. MAJOR kudos to Wells Dunbar of the Austin Chronicle City Hall Hustle. You must watch this insanity which only gets more intense through the end (even after the credits).
Is Carole Strayhorn running any sort of real campaign other than poorly scripted press conferences, no field campaign, and the hopes to win an election entirely on TV ads? Hell, her campaign signup form to volunteer still doesn't work AFTER TWO MONTHS!
All the more reason to repost the ad I made back in January...
