Austin News

Austin has finished its 2020 City Council runoff elections with a mixed bag of conservative and liberal officials.

District 10 was won by Alison Alter by 587 votes in a tight race over by Jennifer Virden. Alter raised more than $320,000 for her campaign and focused on cutting police spending, even though crime rates are on the rise. Virden, on the other hand, was opposed to defunding law enforcement. Alter has more than 20 years' experience in higher education and is known for her philanthropic work through her organization Alter Advertising.

In District Six, Mackenzie Kelly beat Jimmy Flannigan by 677 votes. Kelly’s campaign platform featured increasing safety for the homeless individuals in Austin and supporting law enforcement.  

"I believe that District Six rejected a politics of fear and recognized that the real public safety challenges come from COVID-19 and wildfire," Alter told KUT.org.

Kelly is a member of community groups, such as Take Back Austin, where she serves as president. Virden and Kelly together were given $122,614 by the Austin Police Association.

Flannigan was a supporter of the LGBTQ agenda and supported the rights of individuals from nontraditional sexual backgrounds. He also favored defunding the police, and received the support of Beto O’Rourke.

Texas Vote Environment spent $1,250 supporting Flannigan and $1,500 supporting Alter. Overall, Flannigan raised $131,000 in contributions.

In District Two, Vanessa Fuentes won the seat left open by Delia Garza who was elected as Travis County attorney. Fuentes won 56% of the votes over three other candidates. Greg Casar, the the incumbent for District Four, was re-elected, as was Leslie Pool in District Seven.