José Velásquez and Daniela Silva maintained a close race with 36.43% and 34.42% of votes, respectively.
The four remaining candidates had small margins between votes, with José Noé Elías, at 11%, and Gavino Fernandez Jr., Yvonne Weldon, and Esala Wueschner all in the 4-9% range.
Velásquez’, a fourth generation Austinite, aimed his campaign on unifying the community, with an emphasis on housing, access to transit, and environmental stewardship. Velásquez’ campaign fundraising greatly exceeded his opponents, generating over $104,000 out of the $151,033 total funds between all six candidates.
Velásquez did not respond on election night for comment.
Daniela Silva, who’s held various positions in agricultural leadership, led a campaign grounded on housing, healthcare and environmental equity. Silva’s campaign focused on ensuring affordability for the middle class, vouching for waiving or easing housing restrictions.
“We’re grateful to everyone who participated in democracy by voting and volunteering in this election, and are feeling strong and optimistic about the future. This outcome was expected, and we’re prepared to turn out the vote and earn more support in the run-off for our grassroots, people-powered campaign,” said Silva.
The runoff election will take place Dec. 13.
Original post: Early votes show a potential runoff in the race for Austin City Council District 3 in Central and East Austin. José Velásquez and Daniela Silva are leading with 38.06% and 33.88% votes, respectively. The remaining four other candidates trail behind.
Velásquez, a fourth-generation Austinite, aimed his campaign on unifying the community with an emphasis on housing, access to transit and environmental stewardship. Velásquez’s campaign fundraising greatly exceeded his opponents, generating over $104,000 out of the $151,033 total funds among all six candidates.
Daniela Silva, who has held various positions in agricultural leadership, led a campaign focused on housing, health care and environmental equity.
The elected candidate will succeed Pio Renteria, who served on City Council for two terms starting in 2015.
The four remaining candidates have small margins among votes with José Noé Elías, a second-grade dual-language teacher, leading the pack at 11.67%, and Gavino Fernandez Jr., Yvonne Weldon, and Esala Wueschner all in the 3%-8% range.
The 331,668 votes cast in early voting represent 37.39% of the total registered voters in the district, according to county data.
Results are unofficial until canvassed. Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide to see results from all local elections in your community.
