Elections 2024: Voting in Austin

• State legislative seats are also on the ballot — but the chambers are extremely likely to remain under Republican control.
• Austin voters will decide who they want to lead their city and whether to increase taxes to subsidize child care.
• Residents in the Austin and Round Rock school districts will vote on spending for teacher and staff raises and school improvements. 

The intrigue: All local U.S. House and legislative races are expected to be lopsided, with districts drawn to favor one party or the other.

Voting in Texas

You can register to vote at VoteTexas.gov through Oct. 7.

• Update your name or address with the secretary of state if needed.

Other key dates: In-person early voting is Oct. 21–Nov. 1.

• Oct. 25 is the last day to apply to vote by mail. Eligible voters include those 65 or older on Election Day and those who are sick or disabled.

U.S. Senate: Colin Allred (D) vs. Ted Cruz (R)

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican former Texas solicitor general who was first elected to the Senate in 2012, faces U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas).

Allred, a fundraising juggernaut and civil rights attorney, has tried to make the election a referendum on Cruz's anti-abortion positions, and he's criticized Cruz's visit to Cancún, Mexico, in 2021 during the deadly Texas winter storm.

• Allred recently picked up the endorsement of former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.

Cruz, meanwhile, has tried to energize Texas Republican voters, warning them against complacency amid a newly invigorated Democratic party.

• Despite a record of voting against major pieces of bipartisan legislation — the Chips Act and the Ukraine-Israel aid package — Cruz has presented himself on the campaign trail as a dealmaker, part of an effort to augment his conservative, rural base with suburban swing voters, per the Wall Street Journal.

The latest: Cruz and Allred have agreed to a televised debate on Oct. 15 in Dallas.

The intrigue: Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, but Cruz only narrowly won re-election against Beto O'Rourke in 2018.

Austin mayor

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is facing four opponents as he aims for re-election.

• Jeffery Bowen is a consultant who served in the U.S. Air Force.
• Doug Greco is the former executive director of Central Texas Interfaith, a nonprofit that focuses on homelessness and housing affordability.
• Carmen Llanes Pulido is an affordable housing advocate who runs the group Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin.
• Kathie Tovo is a former Austin City Council member who has taught courses in urban politics at the University of Texas.

Watson has vastly outraised his challengers and has picked up the endorsements of 14 unions, including the Austin Firefighters Association and the Austin-Travis County EMS Association.

• The mayor is emphasizing competency at City Hall — he ousted city manager Spencer Cronk after criticism over poor communication during widespread power outages following a 2023 ice storm; an ambitious easing of home construction restrictions; investments in job training and combating homelessness; and efforts to protect Austin's light rail project from getting dismantled by state officials.
• His opponents have criticized his ill-fated state policing partnership and the continuing challenges of affordability in Austin.
• If no candidate receives more than 50% support, the top two vote-getters will square off in a Dec. 14 runoff.

Austin City Council

Voters in Districts 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10 will get to name their council members.

District 2: Incumbent Vanessa Fuentes, who was named elected official of the year by the National Association of Social Workers, is seeking re-election in this southeast district against Robert Reynolds, who has previously run for office as a Republican.

District 4: José "Chito" Vela, an immigration attorney who is the incumbent in this north-central district, faces a challenge from community organizer Monica Guzmán, who finished second to Vela in the 2022 special election to replace former Council Member Greg Casar.

District 6: In this northwestern district, incumbent Mackenzie Kelly, a Republican, is squaring off against Krista Laine, co-founder of Access Education RRISD, which fought right-wing control of Round Rock public schools.

District 7: With incumbent Leslie Pool term-limited, seven people are trying to represent this north-central district.

• The candidates are former Democratic congressional candidate Mike Siegel, civil rights attorney Gary Bledsoe, former union organizer Adam Powell, firefighter Pierre Huy Nguyễn, grant writer Edwin Bautista, retiree and longtime district resident Daniel "Dan" Dominguez, and Todd Shaw, former chair of the city Planning Commission.

District 10: With incumbent Alison Alter deciding not to run for a third term in this northwest Austin district, voters will decide between consultant Marc Duchen, who opposes city reforms to encourage housing density, and Ashika Ganguly, a former Austin public school teacher who is the legislative director for Austin Democratic state Rep. John Bucy.

Tax increase for affordable child care

Travis County voters will decide whether to increase property taxes 2.5 cents per $100 in valuation to subsidize child care.

• Travis County commissioners say that would generate more than $75 million annually, which will help pay for child care for infants and toddlers in low-income families.

Follow the money: The average Travis County homeowner could pay an additional $126 annually, per KUT.

• Subsidies would be earmarked for families earning 85% or less of the median family income. For a family of four, that's an annual income of about $100,000.
• The money would also be channeled to child care providers to help them hire more workers.

The bottom line: "This is an attempt to try to really set the future in a very positive way for [children]," Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez said in August as commissioners unanimously approved the ballot measure.

Money for public schools

Facing a budget crunch, some school districts in central Texas are asking voters for more support.

Austin ISD voters will decide on increased funding to pay for teacher and staff raises and to reduce the district's budget deficit, amid stagnant state spending for schools.

• The tax hike would generate about $171 million in new revenue for the district, but it would keep only $41 million. The rest would go to the state as part of the recapture program.
• The owner of a home worth $553,493 would see a property tax increase of $408 a year.

Round Rock ISD voters will weigh in on four propositions, totaling nearly $1 billion, to pay for school facility maintenance and school bus purchases, athletic facility upgrades, and updates to school technology, among other things.