Incumbent Sabino "Pio" Renteria,a lifetime resident of District 3 and member of the CapMetro board of directors, received 48.58 percent of the early vote for the Austin City Council District 3 seat.

He leads the five other candidates for the position: Susana Almanza, a native East Austinite and director of the local nonprofit PODER, or People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources; Jessica Cohen, an EMT whose platform includes increasing pay for Austin ISD teachers and improving mobility; Justin Jacobson, a restaurant worker focused on Austin's affordability crisis; Amit Motwani, Chief Information Officer at United Way for Greater Austin who supports immediate cost relief for residents at risk of displacement; and James Valdez, a real estate broker who advocates for tax relief for residents and business owners.

Almanza received 21.90 percent of the early vote, Cohen 8.83 percent, Motwani 7.7 percent, Valdez 6.72 percent and Jacobson 6.18 percent.

If no candidate receives 50 percent of more of the vote, the two leading candidates will go into a runoff election, which will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

Whoever wins the District 3 seat will serve in the second term of Austin 10-1 City Council, which replaced the previous at-large system. Since 2014, council members have been elected from 10 geographical districts in an effort to equalize representation across the city. The mayor is elected in a citywide race.

Five of the 10 city council seats—for Districts 1, 5, 8 and 9, in addition to District 3—are open this election. Only District 5 is uncontested; incumbent Ann Kitchen is the sole candidate.

Nearly half—47.3 percent—of people registered in Travis County voted early. This is slightly less than in 2016, when 51.1 percent of voters did, but significantly more than the last midterm election, in 2014, when 22.3 percent did.

A record-setting 94 percent of eligible county residents are registered to vote, said Bruce Elfant, Travis County tax assessor collected and voter registrar. This is up from a previous record of 92 percent in 2016.