The Latest Breaking News from Kirk Watson

As newly elected Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and a City Council with an array of fresh faces review their first major crisis, the city’s top officials once again find themselves trying to figure out why the city botched its response to a significant weather event.

Tens of thousands of Austin households and businesses went days without electricity after a winter storm wreaked havoc across Texas.

As tens of thousands of households and businesses face a third day in the dark, Austin leaders say they will improve emergency communications. But residents and critics have little patience for bungled warnings.

As of Thursday, we’ve identified the results of 153 legislative leadership elections:

Kirk Watson defeated Celia Israel in the December 13, 2022, nonpartisan general runoff election for mayor of Austin, Texas. Watson received 50.4% of the vote to Israel’s 49.6%.

Watson, a former state senator who was Austin’s mayor from 1997 to 2001, pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate who could ease the city’s growing affordability crisis.

The housing crisis and the climate crisis have shaped mayoral and city council elections in Texas’ fast-growing capital city.

Celia Israel and Kirk Watson are running in the Dec. 13 nonpartisan general runoff election for mayor of Austin, Texas. Israel and Watson, who have both served in the state legislature as Democrats, were the top two vote-getters in the Nov. 8 general election. Israel received 40% of the vote…

Welcome to the Wednesday, December 7, Brew.