We have a real opportunity to fix our broken health care system. Let's get the job done!
This Saturday afternoon, you're invited to a local health care rally featuring: Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Senator Kirk Watson, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Council Member Sheryl Cole, Former State Rep. Ann Kitchen, TCDP Chair Andy Brown and others.
Our goal is to make Saturday's rally one of the biggest in the country. Spread the word!
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.
Well produced, brings a bit more energy to Cole than you would probably see in a forum and highlights her main issues. The logo flying apart is kind of magical.
The Statesman's endorsement of McCracken praises him as a leader who has learned from his mistakes and is ready to lead Austin into the future by investing in clean energy, biotech and digital businesses.
McCracken has a broad view of what Austin needs and how City Hall should manage in a budget crunch. He can build alliances and should be a visible, active mayor. We have not always agreed with McCracken, and he has made his share of mistakes on the council, but he seems to learn from them.
The endorsement, although expected, gives a definite boost to McCracken's campaign, although it could be off set by what seems to be a likely upcoming endorsement by the Austin Chronicle of Lee Leffingwell.
Place 1: Chris Riley
Nearly everyone, including the Statesman, seems to think that both Chris Riley and Perla Cavazos are able candidates who would do a great job for Austin on the City Council.
While little separates Cavazos and Riley in their campaigns, Riley has more experience and we believe is ready for the City Council. Cavazos has a good career ahead of her and with a bit more seasoning will be an even better candidate.
No matter the result in Place 1, the consensus is that Austin will have elected a well-qualified and prepared council member.
The Statesman also endorsed incumbents Mike Martinez and Shery Cole along with Bill Spelman, a former council member who is running unopposed.
We have a solid consensus on our staff of two things in relation to the Place 6 race. The first is that Councilwoman Cole could be more proactive, more agressive, and more engaged on behalf of her constituants. Cole has worked on the Waller Creek Redevelopment project, an issue that needs leadership if the businesses and parkland along that zone are ever to become something of which our city can be proud. In its current state, Waller Creek is like a scar across downtown, one that needs tending to and we hope Cole will lead on the issue during her next term.
That said, we agree that the council will not be any better served by replacing Cole with her opponent Sam Osemene. Osemene has been agressive in pointing out faults with Cole's leadership and little else. Providing a contrast in politics is necessary but it is not enough to earn our votes.
As such, we endorse Sheryl Cole for re-election to Place 6.
Today the University Democrats and the Central Austin Democrats, together the Austin Progressive Coalition, held their joint endorsement meeting. The results go as followed.
Central Austin Democrats Mayor: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Chris Riley
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: Sheryl Cole
University Democrats Mayor: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Chris Riley
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: No Endorsement
A few comments.
For every position except Place 6, the endorsements will be placed on thousands of yellow flyers that will be distributed door-to-door. Beyond claiming CAD and UDems endorsements, the candidates will be able to claim the endorsements of the Austin Progressive Coalition.
Second, Strayhorn was a no-show as was Mike Martinez's opponent.
Next, although Chris and Perla have been splitting the two endorsements, Chris managed to pull the entire coalition to his side. As Riley's extensive Austin experience is heavily concentrated in Central Austin, it comes as no surprise he won the CAD endorsement, but the UDems endorsement was no certainty; Perla still has a lot of strong support in the club.
Finally, the UDems' No Endorsement for Place 6 might come as a surprise to outside observers, mainly because the most active Democratic clubs haven given her an endorsement. She lost an endorsement from the activist students because, in my mind, she 1. had a mediocre performance today and 2. Even the most veteran University Democrats claimed that this was the first time they had ever seen her (anywhere, not just at club meetings). She'll still most likely win reelection, but that's simply due to the dearth of the competition. But hopefully she'll take the various No-Endorsements to heart and amp up her work on the council.
Update by KT: Indeed this is a big win for Riley in Place 1. Most observers rated it as a toss up (more so in UDems than CAD) but it could have gone either way for either candidate and most of us expected a split endorsement (which would have resulted in being knocked off the thousands of yellow doorhangers). On top of that, the UDems endorsements match those of the Capital City Young Democrats which opens up the door to a second year of a joint youth mail piece which makes today's results even more meaningful for co-endorsed campaigns.
While Leffingwell was like 10-1 over McCracken in CAD, it was closer in UDems. Closer in fact than Place 1 ended up being! I've posted the UDems numbers in the extended entry, which are publicly requestable via a transparency clause we added into the constitution back when I was a member (mainly because everyone always asked anyways or tried to leak it and this way it just makes it fairer).
The Place 6 No Endorsement was a solid margin. I owe Mr. Suits an apology for cautioning his hope that UDems would wind up doing this. Color me surprised and maybe even a bit impressed.
Enough stuff to catch up on that I'm going to dump it all into this post.
Mayor's Race
Carole Strayhorn is apparently too busy to attend 3 forums this week with her opponents. Maybe she'll be too busy to attend City Council meetings as well if she's elected Mayor.
As McCracken has founded his own campaign on forward-looking technologies such as solar power, his adamant defense of the project was no surprise. And as Martinez is surmised to be Leffingwell's proxy on issues the candidate would rather not wade into at the moment, his fulsome call for caution shouldn't surprise either. Maybe most surprising was Lef fing well's virtual absence from the debate - as politicians take pains to appear cautious, they may not want to remain overly so.
Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt writes an unprompted explaining of her endorsement of Leffingwell on her website. Go read it, but also did anyone notice the URL of the post? "a-word-about-jennifer-gale"? I KNEW IT. Jennifer Gale is reaching out to us to endorse Lee Leffingwell from the world beyond.
Speaking of endorsements, Leffingwell is apparently rolling out 2 more groups and 6 more elected officials Friday at Noon at his campaign office. Could that be the turning point? Maybe if those officials start working their communities. I don't think we've seen anything like that in a municipal race in many years.
Mike Martinez unopposed. Iterated his support for Leffingwell during the University Democrats meeting yesterday which I sense is leaning more towards Lee now. That's important because Leffingwell is pretty much guaranteed to win the Central Austin Democrats endorsement meaning he'd get the Austin Progressive Coalition endorsement and 5000+ doorhangers in central Austin as a result.
Austin City Council, Place 5
Bill Spelman unopposed, though there is still a week and a half to file. Not that we want anyone to file since Bill would be excellent on the council.
Upcoming events include...
South Austin House Party (Oak Hill)
Saturday, March 7
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Home of Valerie & Brian Reis
6516 Rotan Drive, 78749
North Austin House Party
Thursday, March 12
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Home of Dawn & Fred Lewis
4509 Edgemont, 78731
Austin City Council, Place 6
Sheryl Cole still only faces Sam Osemene. Really. That's it. This race is even more boring than Place 2 & 5 and Cole actually has an opponent. Then again, the only question is if she wins by 20 points or 40.
Another early endorser, the Central Labor Council in Austin has met and issued endorsements in the following races.
Mayor: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: Sheryl Cole
Someone pointed out these two crazy similar pictures from today's office openings. (The McCracken one being from Michael Bartnett of the Austin Chronicle.) I unfortunately wasn't able to make any of them because my bike got a flat and I was dealing with that today.
And here is some video from today's McCracken office opening.
So I've run through all the campaign finance reports for the reported candidates for office. Mike Levy, while much rumored, hasn't filed to run, and Oak Hill resident Sandy Baldrige is saying she wants to run against Bill Spelman, but no action to actually follow up those claims on the finance front. In any case, below are a couple of different measures of how you can compare the candidates. Incumbents running for re-election to their own offices are in bold.
Cash on Hand
The only thing order-wise that changes if you sort by total funds raised during the period is that incumbent Sheryl Cole moves from 4th to 2nd and incumbent Mike Martinez moves from 2nd to 4th.
Overall: I was mostly right in what I've said to friends that I doubted anyone would end up having more than $25,000. I was wrong about Carole Strayhorn but I didn't think she would end up deciding to run. And while Chris Riley didn't end up with more than $25,000 cash on hand, he did raise more than $25,000 so congrats to him.
Mayor: Overall, I'm a little surprised to see Brewster's fundraising more on par with that of the Place 1 candidates and lagging behind that of Carole. Of course, that could just be because his main fundraiser isn't until later this month, but still, it makes the argument against Leffingwell rather irrelevant (that his delay in getting in will put him far behind in the money race). The Draft Lee PAC certainly is not acting as a real shadow campaign in terms of fundraising, but remember, it cannot transfer funds to Lee's Mayoral account once he files so there is no use in building up tens of thousands of dollars on it that would have to be spent independently of the official campaign. Of course, I also think that Strayhorn and Levy could spent lots of money and get far fewer votes than McCracken and Leffingwell so it could just all be a wash. This report tells us very little in the Mayor's race.
Place 1: My ballpark guess in this race was that the fundraising order would be Riley, Cavazos, then Cofer with totals around $20k, $15k, and then $10k. Both Chris Riley and Rick Cofer exceeded those expectations by a reasonable amount and in the end, they indeed are separated by no more than $10,000. Cofer was the last candidate in this race to announce, and with only 2 weeks to fundraise with Christmas killing about a week of that, nearly tieing Cavazos is worthy of note. I should clarify this point as all 3 candidates filed in the 2nd week of December. What I was trying to get at was that Chris was actively exploring this race and making calls months before he filed (I got an early call when I was in the Strama office before the November election) and Perla was actively talking about it in November, whereas I know Cofer didn't make the decision to run until the first week of December, shortly before he filed because he texted me about it.
Does this report create a frontrunner? I don't know. Last year, in the open Place 4 race, the first report went Morrison, Galindo, Cravey with $21k, $14k, and $12k. Randi Shade led incumbent Jennifer Kim $69k to $44k. Of course all of those were running earlier and in this period, the fundraising period was truncated by a presidential election, late filing, and a bad economy (even though the max contribution limit has increased from $300 to $350).
But if convention wisdom must be set, than I figure it's Cofer and Cavazos competing more with each other to secure a spot in a runoff with Chris Riley.
Place 5: This is all about Bill Spelman. Which is pretty easy to say since there is no sign of his "declared" regional opponent as of yet from Oak Hill. A lot of the same caveats apply as in the Place 5 race (Bill filed with about 3 weeks to fundraise) and it's a hard sell to get people to give you money when (at the time) there was no opponent. So this could end up like the Leffingwell-Meeker race in 2008. Lots of bluster from the 2nd tier candidate, but probably not a whole lot of electoral action with a healthy win.
Other Places: Mike Martinez doesn't have a declared opponent. Sam Osemene is running against Sheryl (he ran for Place 4 against Morrison/Galindo/Cravey last year) but he hasn't filed any report as he appointed his treasurer in January; but if he runs like last time, he won't be a factor other than a repository of votes for people who don't want to vote for Sheryl.
Here are some other interesting breakdowns.
Disclosure: I am listed as having donated $300 of in-kind website development services to the Spelman campaign.
