New campaign finance reports showed how the eight finalists in the races for mayor and council representatives in Districts 3, 5 and 9 ramped up fundraising and spending over the final month of their campaigns. The citywide mayor's race remained the highest-value contest with contenders Celia Israel and Kirk Watson bringing in nearly $700,000 from Oct. 30 through Dec. 3, while district face-offs generated between around $106,000 and $167,000 in donations to candidates in that time.
Early voting in the city runoff began Dec. 1 and ends Dec. 9. Through the first five days of that period, 29,890 Austinites—4.77% of the city's registered voter pool—cast a ballot.
Mayor's race
In the month ahead of the runoff election, Watson held his position as Austin's lead political fundraiser and spender this year with nearly $456,000 in donations and $335,000 in reported spending leading up to Dec. 3. Watson's contributions included more than 900 made at the city maximum of $450. He maintained more than $269,000 on hand for the final push to election day.
Israel brought in more than half of Watson's fundraising total with around $241,000 collected through early December, including around 300 maximum donations. That figure was a jump up from her reported contributions ahead of the November general election; she had raised less than $98,000 from July through September, then $58,500 through October.
Israel spent just over $178,100 and had around $72,000 remaining for the runoff stretch run by Dec. 3.Through early December, Watson had brought in more than $1.81 million in total this year against $1.54 million in overall spending. Israel raised more than $650,000 and spent more than $555,000.
Despite posting financial totals several times higher than Israel through this year's mayoral campaign, Watson finished around 5% behind her in the final standings on election night in November.
Council contests
In the District 3 council race, José Velásquez also maintained his fundraising lead over the competition during the runoff reporting period of Oct. 30-Dec. 3.
In that time, Velásquez collected almost $59,000 and spent nearly $100,000, growing his 2022 fundraising total to more than $163,000. Daniela Silva raised around $47,800 and spent nearly $25,000 for an annual fundraising total of just under $78,000. Velásquez kept around $54,000 on hand for his campaign's final week and a half, while Silva reported having around $30,500.
Silva brought in six maximum donations, while Velásquez collected nearly 100.Velásquez also significantly outraised and outspent his competition in the District 3 race so far, with only Silva surpassing five-digit totals. On election night in November, the two finished less than 2% apart in a six-person field with Velásquez leading.
District 5's Ryan Alter also outraised and outspent his competitor, Stephanie Bazan, in the month ahead of the runoff reporting period. From late October through Dec. 3, Alter earned nearly $74,000 and spent more than $100,000 against Bazan's $44,000 fundraising total and nearly $32,000 in spending. Bazan brought in nearly 50 maximum donations, and Alter drew more than 120.Bazan led by around $4,000 in cash on hand ahead of the runoff, with more than $38,600 remaining to Alter's $34,600.
Bazan and Alter were the only two candidates to finish above 20% in their six-person general election contest, with Bazan earning more than 29% and Alter winning 24% of the district's vote.
Candidates in Central Austin's District 9 once again brought in the most cash of the council district races during the latest reporting period as finalists Zohaib "Zo" Qadri and Linda Guerrero raised more than $167,000 combined.Qadri and Guerrero nearly equaled each other in fundraising with both collecting more than $83,500, while Guerrero outspent Qadri by around $77,300 to $34,300. Guerrero drew 60 maximum $450 donations, and Qadri earned more than 100.
Qadri had almost $61,700 remaining for the final days of his campaign while Guerrero had $26,100 left on hand.
Qadri finished with 30% of District 9's vote in November, and Guerrero finished second with 22.29%.
Committee effects
Several political action committees also reported fundraising and spending in support of several candidates on the ballot ahead of the runoff.
The Watson-supporting Stand Together Austin raised more than $194,000 and spent nearly $95,000. Top donors sending at least $25,000 to the committee included Hilary Luros, Gary Farmer, Daniel Herd, and Trilogy CEO Joe Liemandt's more than $51,000 in contributions.
Equity PAC, which backs Israel, spent almost $38,000 on a mix of advertising, salaries, consulting and other expenses. And Just Housing PAC, supporting Israel and Qadri, brought in more than $45,000 and spent nearly $8,000 mainly on advertising and events.
The Austin Board of Realtors PAC—which backed Watson, Velásquez and Alter as well as re-elected incumbents Paige Ellis and Natasha Harper-Madison—reported nearly $60,300 in spending during the latest reporting period. The PAC's funding was mainly used on advertising and maximum contributions to remaining candidates' campaigns.
The Central Austin Democrats committee, supporting Watson and Guerrero, gathered and spent less than $1,000 through November and early December. The Guerrero-supporting City Accountability Project brought in almost $5,800 and spent more than $20,300, mainly on advertising and consulting. Pro-Guerrero Leadership PAC raised $6,700 and spent about the same amount on printing.
