With barely a week left before their runoff election on Tuesday, Dec. 13, Austin mayoral aspirants Celia Israel and Kirk Watson are making their last-minute pitches as to why they should hold the state capital’s highest office.
Early voting for the contest is ongoing through Friday, and both candidates are aware that voter turnout is usually small, according to a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.
Israel and Watson are names associated with the Texas Legislature who look to be the successor to Steve Adler, who is term-limited.
Members of the Democratic Party, Israel is the incumbent representative for the 50th district in the Texas House of Representatives and Watson is a couple of years removed from having served in the Texas Senate for nearly 15 years.
Watson aims to reclaim his old job as Austin mayor, which he served as from 1997 to 2001.
Both are urging for more of the city’s registered voters to cast their ballots, KVUE reported.
“To be in a runoff, it's like it's two campaigns," Israel, a University of Texas at Austin (UT) graduate, told the station. "This is a really important election … I would just implore everybody, your vote does matter.”
Watson, who’s relying on his mayoral experience from more than 20 years ago to woo voters, sees a positive in the runoff.
"The good news, I guess, with a runoff is that you get more time to visit with voters, to reach out and touch them and hear from them," Watson, who was the first dean of the University of Houston’s (UH) Hobby School of Public Affairs, said, per KVUE.
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that Israel and Watson were the top two leading vote getters in the November election, with the former garnering barely 40% of the vote.
Axios reported that Israel also outraised Watson in campaign contributions.
Per the website, Watson, who purportedly has a foothold on the city’s more affluent west side, is attempting to appeal to both sides of the political spectrum by calling for more police on the streets and clamoring for social justices while Israel, who carries a lot of weight East and Central Austin, is sticking to progressive issues.