BG Reads Weekend Edition (11.10.2024)

đŸŸȘ BG Reads Weekend Edition (11.10.2024)

November 10, 2024

BG Reads Week in Review

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Top Clicks for the Week of November 4, 2024

WEEKEND NEWS

After election, at least three new members headed to Austin City Council (Austin American-Statesman)

The outcome of Austin’s mayoral race may still be in limbo but the 11-member City Council is set to welcome at least three new members after Tuesday’s general election. 

The council’s only conservative member, District 6’s Mackenzie Kelly, lost her reelection bid while two sitting council members — District 2’s Vanessa Fuentes and District 4’s José “Chito” Vela — easily secured second terms. The race to represent District 7, an open seat, is headed to a runoff on Dec. 14, while a newcomer eked out a win in District 10, another open seat. 

Council members serve staggered, four-year terms and are not allowed to have other jobs while in office. Last fiscal year, they were paid around $121,000
 đŸŸȘ (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Fewer people voted in Travis County this year than in 2020 — and more people voted for Donald Trump (KUT)

Despite breaking Travis County’s all-time voter turnout record on the first day of early voting this year, overall participation in this year’s election ultimately fell short of 2020 levels by more than 26,000 votes.

Turnout this year was lower even though Travis County has seen significant population growth since 2020. Almost 613,000 people voted in the 2020 election, just over 71% of registered voters. This year, the turnout dropped to 586,185 votes, around 63% of registered voters.

Percentage wise, this year’s voter turnout was also lower than in the 2016 election, when just over 65% of registered voters cast their ballots.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the lower numbers may stem from a sense of voter apathy.

“Since Texas is a one-party state and has been for a long time, many Democratic voters have simply given up," Rottinghaus said. "They don’t come to vote because they don’t think their vote matters. There’s a mindset among voters that they want to make sure their vote counts. And if it feels like it doesn’t in a very red state, Democratic voters will simply stay home.”

Rottinghaus also said new residents and young voters might not be showing up to the polls.

“Travis County is a place that attracts young voters and the new registrants are a lot less likely to vote,” he said. “So although the number of voters is increasing, the turnout is not because first-time voters, new to Texas voters, younger voters are just less likely to turn out in general.”

Travis County has also consistently voted more red in recent elections... đŸŸȘ (LINK TO FULL STORY)

With most ballots counted, another term for Mayor Watson looks likely (Austin Chronicle)

While much of the city is still reeling from the presidential election result, the biggest local contest was up in the air as the Chronicle went to press.

At the top of the local ballot, incumbent mayor Kirk Watson’s December plans remain unclear. If he nets more than 50% of the total votes cast by Austin voters (across three counties: Travis, Williamson, and Hays), he will win reelection without having to campaign in a runoff race, set for Dec. 15.

Watson’s campaign emphasized the housing reforms he helped usher through City Council over the past two years – while his opponents were mostly critical of those policy changes. “In just 22 months we’ve changed the landscape for affordability in Austin,” Watson told supporters at his election night party, Nov. 5, “by mornizing land use [rules] and changing old ways of thinking.”

Unofficial results in all three counties show Watson with just enough votes to avoid a runoff. But, late on Wednesday, election officials in Travis and Williamson counties were still counting more than 3,000 provisional and mail-in ballots. Those results will determine if a runoff is necessary to decide the race... đŸŸȘ (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick names private school vouchers as his top legislative priority (Texas Tribune)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday declared private school voucher legislation his number one issue for the legislative session beginning in January and called on Gov. Greg Abbott to declare it an emergency item.

“School choice is my top policy priority,” Patrick said in a statement. “Thirty-two states, both Republican and Democrat, have enacted some form of school choice legislation. There is absolutely no reason why Texas children and parents should be left behind.”

Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate and exerts considerable influence over the legislative process, has reserved Senate Bill 2 for the yet-to-be-authored proposal, emphasizing the importance he’s placing on the measure. Senate Bill 1, he said, will be the state budget, the only bill the Legislature is legally required to pass every session
 đŸŸȘ (LINK TO FULL STORY)

How “wildly successful” anti-trans ads fired up Texas voters for Republicans (Texas Tribune)

In the final weeks of a heated reelection campaign, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz released a television ad with a simple message — “Boys and girls: They’re different.”

In the ad, Cruz accused his Democratic challenger, Colin Allred, of wanting boys to play on girls’ sports teams. Allred released his own ad vehemently denying the claim.

Neither mentioned that the Texas Legislature had already banned student athletes from playing on teams that didn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Even before the votes rolled in, the fact that Texas’ senate candidates were arguing about youth sports, rather than the economy, immigration or the future of democracy itself, was a Republican victory. For years, conservative political strategists had been pushing the party to hammer Democrats on what they see as “extreme” stances on gender.

Many of the ads focused on trans children playing on youth sports teams. But they also tried to pin Democrats for supporting policies that allow young people to medically transition, and narrow instances in which taxpayer dollars were used to pay for gender-affirming care for inmates or members of the military, all of which the Republicans would like to see banned
 đŸŸȘ (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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