In liberal Austin, a two-year wave of conservative backlash appears to have crested.
On Tuesday evening, voters in the state’s capital resoundingly rejected a proposal to bloat the city’s police department. At a cost of up to $600 million over five years, the measure would have mandated a staffing ratio of two sworn cops for every 1,000 Austin residents, among other requirements. The proposal—a brainchild of Save Austin Now, a local reactionary coalition including the police union and the Travis County GOP Chair—failed Tuesday by a 69-31 margin.
“Austin loudly rejected [Save Austin Now]’s fearmongering and embraced all the different work that keeps our entire community safe,” said Kathy Mitchell, an organizer with the criminal justice reform group Just Liberty, in a text Tuesday. “Austin voters protected the soul of our city tonight.”
