Incumbent Mike Martinez claimed an early victory for re-election to Austin City Council Place 2 against challenger Laura Pressley.

With 217 of 237 precincts reporting, unofficial results show Martinez claimed 56 percent of the vote to Pressley's 44 percent.

"I feel really good," he said. "It's always affirming of the work you've done."

Martinez held his watch party at Scholz Garten along with Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who always succeeded in winning his re-election.

Martinez credits his victory to the last six years of being in public office and he looks forward to working on issues, such as Austin Energy's rate increases and geographic representation.

Pressley said she was not disappointed with the outcome.

"I got the most votes out of any challenger," she said.

She said she plans to run again and will not be going away from Austin's political scene.

"We brought in a lot of people into the process that weren't involved before," Pressley said.

Martinez worked as a firefighter in Austin for 13 years. He started his political career in the early 2000s when he was elected president of the Austin Firefighters Association in 2003 and served as the chair of the Austin Firefighters Association Political Action Committee from 2001–04.

Martinez has been a member of City Council since 2006 and is also the chairman of the board of directors for Capital Metro.

His competitor co-founded Pure Rain, LLC, a company that produces fluoride- and chemical-free drinking water, in 2007. Pressley spent 17 years before that in the semiconductor industry working for Motorola Inc., AMD and Freescale Inc. as an engineer. She earned her Ph.D in chemistry from The University of Texas.

Her volunteer work includes being a former board member for the Women's Advocacy Project, a steering committee member of Fluoride Free Austin and past board member for SafePlace, the Travis County Battered Women's and Rape Survivors Shelter.

She has positioned herself as a bridge candidate, pulling support from multiple party affiliations, said Stacy Guidry, Pressley's campaign manager.

"She has a strong coalition of support from all religions and socio-economic backgrounds," Guidry said.

She said Pressley received endorsements from El Concilio Mexican-American Democrats, the Greater East Austin Neighborhood Association, Libertarian Longhorns and the Northwest Austin Republican Women.

Guidry said Pressley even attended several Catholic Mass services to meet with the city's religious leaders and attended events on the East side of the city, which is also home to her campaign office, off of East Sixth Street.

"We're proud of the way Laura has been able to bridge the gap," she said.

Campaign finance reports for Jan. 1–May 4 show that Martinez received a total of $141,624 in contributions and spent $122,797. Pressley received $44,208 and spent $39,599 on the campaign, according to reports for the same time period.