The overview
Six Austin City Council seats were up for election last year, including mayor and five district representatives. Most contests were settled in the November general election, while the race for North Central Austin's District 7 was decided in a December runoff.
Throughout the year, incumbent candidates held strong financial leads over their competition, while two races for open seats saw closer fundraising and spending totals. Final finance reports covering activity in late 2024 were due in mid-January.
In the end, three out of four incumbents held their seats, while District 6's Mackenzie Kelly was defeated by challenger Krista Laine. The two candidates in the open District 10 race won by Marc Duchen ended up spending more than $350,000 combined. District 7's six candidates ended up spending more than $600,000 in the lead-up to the general election and the runoff eventually won by Mike Siegel.
Activity close to the election made up a large portion of activity last year, with finance reports covering late October through December showing just over $300,000 raised and $773,000 spent across all races—including both general and runoff contests.
By the numbers
The five-candidate race for mayor drew the most donations and had the highest spending levels, paced by incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson. He ended up with just over 50% of the general election vote, avoiding a runoff and securing his fourth mayoral win in Austin.
Watson both raised and spent just over $1 million in 2024, about three-fourths of the money in the mayoral election. His campaign totals represented 40% of the money raised by all council candidates last year and more than one-third of all spending.
In Southeast Austin, sitting District 2 council member Vanessa Fuentes essentially ran unopposed as challenger Robert Reynolds reported no financial activity during the year. Fuentes raised more than $123,000 and spent nearly $104,000 on her way to re-election with more than 85% of the vote.
After first taking office in a 2022 special election, District 4 council member Chito Vela faced several opponents in 2024, with only one—Monica Guzmán—reporting notable financial totals. Vela nearly doubled her fundraising with more than $63,000 and more than doubled her spending with nearly $115,000 last year, and ended up defeating her by more than 30%.
In the District 7 race, eventual winner Siegel and his runoff opponent Gary Bledsoe held leads over the rest of the field throughout the year. The two roughly matched each other's fundraising totals, while Bledsoe ended up outspending Siegel by about $80,000 through the year, before losing in a close runoff. Those two candidates also reported spending about the same amount combined before and just after the general election—$150,000—as they did around the Dec. 14 runoff.
The District 10 race also saw the candidate with the lower fundraising and spending totals end up winning. Duchen drew more than $118,000 and spent almost $149,000 through 2024, compared to his opponent Ashika Ganguly's $145,000 raised and almost $205,000 spent. Duchen ended up winning by about 1.2%, or several hundred votes.
Beyond their individual totals, many candidates were also supported by thousands of dollars from several local political action committees. All campaign finance reports for individuals and PACs in Austin are published online.
Also of note
Some City Council members not facing an election this year also reported tens of thousands of dollars of financial activity.
District 9 council member Zo Qadri, who's up for re-election in 2026, raised more than $168,000 and spent almost $14,000 last year. And District 5 council member Ryan Alter, who also has two years remaining in his term, raised more than $37,000 and spent almost $9,000.
