The big picture
Incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson, District 2 council member Vanessa Fuentes and District 4 council member Chito Vela joined newly elected Krista Laine from District 6, Mike Siegel from District 7 and Marc Duchen from District 10 for their oaths of office during an inauguration ceremony at City Hall. All six will now serve four-year terms on the council dais.
Laine won her seat by defeating former District 6 council member Mackenzie Kelly in a two-person race to represent Northwest Austin across Travis and Williamson counties. Siegel and Duchen both won open seats left by former officials Leslie Pool and Alison Alter as the longtime officials hit their term limits; Duchen also prevailed in a two-person race in November while Siegel led a more crowded field in November before winning a December runoff.
The action taken
Following the inauguration, the new-look council took its first action by electing a mayor pro tem. That role's responsibilities include running council meetings and serving as the city's ceremonial government leader if the mayor is absent.
Recent councils split mayor pro tem duties between officials on an annual basis, a trend that continued this year. Fuentes was chosen for the role in 2025, with Vela to take over in 2026.
What they're saying
After taking their oaths, officials each spoke to their hopes and priorities for the coming term while pushing back against political divisions both locally and at higher levels of government.
Fuentes said the new-look council comes together during a "year of uncertainty" ahead of the next Texas legislative session presidential administration. She said one of her top goals is committing to the "15-minute city" concept where all residents have easy access to amenities such as grocery stores and parks via safe mobility options.
“I truly believe that our local officials are on the front lines and the work that we do matters, certainly in these times. And I could not think of better colleagues to do this work with," she said of the 2025-26 council.
“One of the things that Austin can do, one of the strongest messages that we can send to the world at large especially given kind of our liberal bent ... is I want to be the best-governed city in Texas, one of the best-governed cities in the country," he said.
“I ran for this office because I’m really interested in doing the work to bring stronger basic services and reliable services everywhere in Austin," she said.
“We have a lot of work to do on many fronts, on housing, affordability, transportation, mobility, climate, public safety, public health. There’s a lot of work to do, and I’m really honored to be joining this effort," he said.
"Austinites want and should expect a government that works for them. They want to make sure that they can trust every dollar is being wisely spent, because that means more resources for the priorities that we all care about. And at the same time, we’ve also got to make sure we can make sure the city’s still affordable to live in," he said.
"If we come together, really setting aside personal and ideological agendas, it will make a big difference today and a transformative one tomorrow. If we rally around a shared vision, we’ll make Austin the place we want it to be and will lay the foundation for the place we want it to become," he said. "We need to fix the day-to-day problems we all face and we also need to put the city on a track that makes people want to live here and that ensures they can."
