Austin election: Race for mayor

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Six people are on the ballot this November looking to be Austin's next mayor, as Mayor Steve Adler is term-limited and will be leaving office.

Here are the candidates, in the order they appear on the ballot.

You can find a profile of each candidate in this story.

See election results below after polls close at 7 p.m.

Phil Campero Brual

Brual, a city council newcomer and University of Texas at Austin government and history student, said he’s running to represent the common Austinite.

“We will no longer be a city represented by out of touch millionaires who pretend to understand the real struggles of the people living and working in Austin,” he wrote on his campaign website.

Rep. Celia Israel

Israel said she’s running to ensure Austin doesn’t become an “elitist,” unwelcoming city that loses its unique nature and its natives who make it that way. Housing and affordability have been major parts of her campaign.

“No one else in the race has my lived experience,” Israel said. “I grew up in a border town, member of the Latino community, the LGBT community. Just a working class chick who happens to have been serving the state in a unique capacity in the legislature.”

Sen. Kirk Watson

Watson — who has already served as mayor of Austin previously — wants the job back.

“We’re at a real turning point in this city from the standpoint of we’re not longer becoming a big city, we are a big city,” Watson said. “We need to be making some hard decisions and we need someone with proven experience of getting things done with a real positive vision of where we want to go.”

Anthony Bradshaw

Bradshaw, another political newcomer, has focused his largely word-of-mouth campaign on equity.

“Let’s make a better Austin. Let’s make Austin stronger, better,” Bradshaw said in an interview with KXAN after his announcement to run. “Let’s see Austin succeed and prosper. But I believe that people coming together, in unity and in strength, it’s the people that’s going to make Austin great by us coming together and working together.”

Jennifer Virden

If you’re a District 10 voter, you’ve seen this name on your ballot before. Jennifer Virden was defeated in a runoff by incumbent Alison Alter in the 2020 Austin City Council race. She is now looking to “restore common sense, transparency and public service back to the mayor’s office.”

“My two main opponents will just continue Austin on the same downward trajectory, they will govern exactly the same as our current leadership does,” she said, promising transparency should she be elected.

Gary S. Spellman

Spellman proposed himself as the middle-ground candidate looking to unite a polarized city council, using the slogan “stop crying the blues, stop seeing red.”

“I’m running for mayor because we’ve lost our direction. We’re so confined to a two party system that if you don’t agree with either side they become polarizing opinions," the businessman said.