Final update
Houston and Lofton will now go into a runoff election after Houston received 49.12 percent of the vote, or 6,421, and Lofton received 14.41 percent of the vote, or 1,884 votes. The runoff election will be held Dec. 16.
UPDATED 12:05 a.m. CST Nov. 5
With about 91 percent of Election Day votes counted, the City Council District 1 race appears likely to head into a runoff election in December.
Ora Houston leads with 49.22 percent of the vote, or 6,304 votes. If she does not reach 50 percent of the vote, the race will go into a runoff with runner-up DeWayne Lofton. If final results show Houston with at least 50 percent of the vote, she will win outright.
All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Posted 07:15 p.m. CST
According to early voting results, Ora Houston is in the lead for the Austin City Council District 1 seat with 53.8 percent of the vote, or 3,851 votes. DeWayne Lofton is in second place with 14.67 percent of the vote, or 1,054 votes. If by the final results no one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote a runoff election will be held.
"We still know there's a lot of votes to be counted," said Jonathan Panzer, Houston's campaign manager about the early results. "We're very happy with the results so far, but we're going to wait."
Houston ran a campaign focusing on issues such as transportation and managing property values. She is a former case manager at Child Protective Services.
Nine candidates are vying for the District 1 seat. District 1 covers much of the city's northeast side. Its southernmost edge runs along East Seventh Street and extends north past East Parmer Lane. It is also one of Austin's most diverse districts with 43.2 percent of its population being Latino, 28.2 percent African-American and 23.3 percent white, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Five of the newly elected City Council members will be randomly chosen to serve two-year terms, and the other five will serve initial four-year terms. Future City Council members will serve four-year terms, and elections will be held every two years.
This election represents the first time voters will choose City Council members from 10 geographic districts, meaning voters can only vote for candidates from their district. The mayor will still be elected at-large, meaning anyone can vote for the mayor.
Full early results are below.
- Andrew Bucknall: 6 percent of the vote, or 431 votes
- Ora Houston: 53.8 percent of the vote, or 3,851 votes
- Michael Cargill: 4.58 percent of the vote, or 329 votes
- George Hindman: 7.04 percent of the vote, or 506 votes
- Christopher Hutchins: 2.5 percent of the vote, or 181 votes
- Norman Jacobson: 0.9 percent of the vote, or 71 votes
- DeWayne Lofton: 14.67 percent of the vote, or 1,054 votes
- Valerie Menard: 7.65 percent of the vote, or 50 votes
- Sam Osemene: 2.98 percent of the vote, or 214 votes
