Incumbent José Garza is leading the race in an effort to win a second term as Travis County’s District Attorney with 68.57% of the early vote, based on unofficial results released Nov. 5.
Initial results reported by Travis County show Garza with a strong lead over his challenger, Criminal Defense Attorney and University of Texas at Austin graduate Daniel W. Betts, with 302,359 total votes compared to Betts' 138,572.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
For context
Garza was elected as Travis County District Attorney in 2020, succeeding Democrat Margaret Moore. In his tenure, Garza has focused on reducing gun violence and providing justice for sexual assault survivors. He increased the size of the Victim Services Division and helped resolve a pair of lawsuits that revealed the Austin Police Department mishandled rape test kits and often closed cases without making any arrests.
With over a decade of experience in criminal defense law, Betts has focused his career on the criminal justice landscape in Travis County. As District Attorney, his priorities would include expediting case processing, increasing the number of jury trials, strengthening partnerships with law enforcement, reducing crime and murder rates, rebuilding trust between the DA’s office and crime victims, and eliminating political influence from the justice system.
The district attorney for the 53rd Judicial District serves as the chief prosecutor for felony criminal cases, responsible for gathering criminal evidence and presenting cases to a grand jury if there are grounds for prosecution.
One last thing
Throughout early voting, there were 480,364 ballots cast countywide, representing 51.93% of Travis County's 925,685 voters.
Totals from ballots cast Nov. 5 have yet to be released. Polls closed at 7 p.m., although voters who were in line at 7 p.m. were still able to cast ballots.
As of 7:06 p.m., there were still 6 polling locations in Travis County with over 50 minute waits.
