Kirk Preston Watson (born 1958) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 54th and 59th mayor of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, serving from 1997 to 2001, and again since 2023. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he ran unsuccessfully for

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

in the 2002 election, when he was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott, later

governor of Texas The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

. In 2006, Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14. In 2011, Watson was chosen by his Democratic colleagues to chair the Senate Democratic Caucus and served until 2015. On the first day of the 86th Legislature, he was chosen by his colleagues—Democrats and Republicans—to serve as

president pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

. The position typically goes to the most senior member, regardless of party, who has not yet served as President Pro Tem, and is second in line of succession to the Governor. It was announced by the ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

'' that Watson planned to resign from the Texas State Senate to become the first dean of the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

's Hobby School of Public Affairs. His resignation was effective April 30, 2020. With incumbent Mayor Steve Adler not seeking another term, Watson entered the race to become Austin mayor for a second time. He was elected for his second stint as mayor in the

2022 Austin mayoral election The 2022 Austin mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022 to elect the next mayor of Austin, Texas. The election was nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations did not appear on the ballot. Incumbent mayor Steve Adler was term-limited and ...

runoff with 50.4% of the vote.

Early life and education

Watson was born in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

and raised in Saginaw, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, where he attended

Boswell High School Boswell High School is a public secondary school in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is part of the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District, and serves students in grades nine through twelve. Fine Arts Boswell High School has the ...

. He received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1980 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1981 from

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

, Texas. At Baylor Law School, Watson was editor-in-chief of the ''Baylor Law Review'' and graduated first in his class. He subsequently clerked for the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * Mi ...

Early political career

Watson was elected president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association in 1990 and served on the executive committee of the

State Bar of Texas The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Te ...

. Watson was an active Democrat throughout the 1990s and served as the chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party. In 1991, Watson was appointed by Governor Ann Richards to serve as chairman of the Texas Air Control Board, the state agency that was charged with protecting air quality in Texas. During his tenure, he worked to merge the agency with the Texas Air Control Board and the Texas Water Commission to form the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, and oversaw implementation of the 1991 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act. In 1994, he was named the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas. In 1997, Watson co-founded the Austin law firm of Watson Bishop London & Galow, creating a broad law practice that represented families, doctors, small businesses, and some of the state's major universities.

First term as Mayor of Austin (1997–2001)

In 1997, after Watson moved from Rollingwood to Austin, he was elected mayor of Austin, a nonpartisan position. He ran on a pledge to build consensus in a city that was then dominated by political battles between environmentalists and developers. He campaigned to raise more than $78 million for land preservation and $300 million for transportation improvements. Watson's signature accomplishments as mayor included the transformation of Downtown Austin into a "24-hour downtown" by encouraging development of housing and retail in place of vacant warehouses and parking lots, partially through tax incentives and the city's

Smart Growth Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sch ...

initiatives. In 1999, Watson spearheaded a redevelopment project along several blocks of waterfront property in Downtown Austin, in an effort to create a new public-private "digital district" in place of dilapidated warehouses and businesses including the former

Liberty Lunch Liberty Lunch was a live-music venue at 405 W. 2nd Street in Austin, Texas that operated until 1999. It was rumored to have been called Liberty Lunch in the 1940s as an eatery, perhaps reflecting the World War II Liberty Bonds and patriotic sentime ...

, which were demolished. Watson, along with architect

Larry Speck Lawrence (Larry) Speck is the principal of Austin-based architecture and engineering firm, Page, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and holds the W. L. Moody Centennial Professorship in Architecture. He is a past president of the ...

, courted the

Computer Sciences Corporation Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Ente ...

(CSC) by offering a $10.4 million tax incentive to anchor two office buildings on the site in lieu of building their planned campus in a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

, and under the condition that CSC foot the bill for a new city hall building. The first two buildings were constructed and are now part of the

Second Street District Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Un ...

, while CSC vacated the premises before following through with the construction of the present-day Austin City Hall. In 2000, Watson spearheaded a $15.1 million tax incentive for

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

to build a new headquarters in Downtown Austin; Intel stopped construction and the unfinished building was demolished in 2007 and replaced by the Austin United States Courthouse. In 2000, Watson was reelected with 84% of the vote – the highest percentage a mayoral candidate has ever received in Austin. In November 2001, he stepped down to run unsuccessfully for

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

in the 2002 election, losing 41% to 57% to now-Governor Greg Abbott. In 2005, he served as chairman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Texas Senate (2007–2020)

Watson was elected to the Texas Senate in November 2006, succeeding Senator

Gonzalo Barrientos Gonzalo Barrientos Jr. (born 20 July 1941) is a former Democratic member of the Texas Senate representing the 14th District from 1985 to 2007. He was also a member of the Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is t ...

. He received more than 80 percent of the vote. Watson was unopposed in the March 2006 Democratic Primary. He served as vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security committee, as well as on the Senate Business and Commerce, Economic Development, Jurisprudence, and Nominations committees. In 2008, he was appointed as one of two senators to the state Business Tax Advisory Committee. Watson has become a prominent voice on transportation, clean energy, and higher education issues, and he has campaigned to widen transparency in the state's finances and increase health coverage for Texans, particularly children. In 2009, he led the fight against a budget rider that would have effectively banned embryonic stem cell research at Texas universities. The rider ultimately was not adopted. Watson served on many committees including the

Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) is the federally mandated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) responsible for comprehensive transportation planning in the Austin, Texas, USA area, including Williamson, Travis, H ...

(CAMPO), of which he is the former Transportation Policy Board Chairman. CAMPO is federally designated as the primary transportation planning organization in Central Texas. The July 2007 '' Texas Monthly''

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

recognized Watson as "Rookie of the Year" for the 2007 session of the Texas Legislature. In 2009, the magazine named him one of the state's 10 Best Legislators. He also was given the Price Daniel Award for Distinguished Public Service by the Baylor Alumni Association, and the Excellence in Leadership Award by Concordia University, Texas. Watson considered running in the 2010 race for governor, but in August 2009 decided to instead seek re-election to the Texas Senate. In June 2013, Watson moved to overturn a ruling designed to end the filibuster of Senator Wendy Davis. Together, their efforts averted the passage of SB5, a bill that its opponents claimed would enact severe abortion restrictions in Texas. Instead, in a second special session the same bill was passed (96 to 49) by the Texas House, and then (19 to 11) by the Texas Senate, and then signed into law by Gov. Perry less than a month later. State Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson of Waco (Texas HD 56) told reporters following the Davis filibuster that the additional special session might "cost taxpayers more than $800,000." Another news organization estimated special-session costs at roughly $30,000 per day. In the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on November 6, 2018, Watson easily won reelection, 274,122 (74.1 percent) to 96,355 (25.3 percent) for his Republican opponent, George W. Hindman. A

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties * Outline of libertarianism ...

candidate, Micah M. Verlander, held another 10,838 votes (2.8 percent). In 2019, Watson proposed a series of money-raising maneuvers to fund the lane expansion project along

I-35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

through Austin, including doubling the state gas tax, raising vehicle registration fees in Travis County, enacting a special sales tax, and issuing bonds. Watson resigned from the Texas State Senate on April 30, 2020, to become the first dean of the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs. Watson resigned from the University of Houston after less than 1 year to become a candidate for Mayor.

Controversies

Texas highways

Much of Watson's first year in office was spent mediating a long, very bitter dispute on the CAMPO board over highway improvements in the Austin area. While many of the improvements had been in transportation plans for years, they had never been constructed. A lack of transportation funding, affecting projects across Texas, had led previous boards to support plans that would toll the additional capacity as well as nearly completed projects, sparking intense opposition throughout the region. Upon being elected chairman by the rest of the board in January 2007, Watson led the effort to keep the controversial projects in the region's transportation plan. He then spearheaded a public effort to create a process that would allow policy makers and the public to analyze the need for transportation projects, mechanisms to pay for them, and potential public benefits from them. On October 8, 2007, the CAMPO board overwhelmingly approved a plan to add new toll lanes to several existing highways ( U.S. Highway 290,

U.S. Highway 183 U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Presho, South Dakota, at an intersection with Interstate 90. Its southern terminus is in Refugio, Texas, at the southern intersection ...

, and State Highway 71). Most of the improvements were approved on a 15-4 vote, and none were opposed by more than five board members. The board was heckled with shouts of "Political suicide!" and catcalls.

2008 Chris Matthews interview

Following Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's victory in the 2008 Wisconsin Democratic Primary Election on February 19, 2008, Watson appeared via live feed on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

's election night coverage as a supporter of Senator Obama, whom Watson had endorsed. During the interview,

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

asked Watson to name one of Senator Obama's legislative accomplishments. A five second delay from the live feed caused confusion amongst Chris Matthews and Kirk Watson. After Watson was unable to list one of Obama's accomplishments, Matthews responded, "You've supported him for president, you're on national television, name his legislative accomplishments, Barack Obama's, sir."Wonkette (with video)
/ref> After Watson was excused, Matthews commented, "He atsonis here to defend Barack Obama and he had nothing to say; that's a problem."

Second term as Mayor of Austin (2023–present)

Election

Watson declared his candidacy for the 2022 mayoral election. In the November 8 general election, he advanced to a runoff election against

Celia Israel Celia Marie Israel (born July 15, 1964) is an American politician. She previously represented the 50th district in the Texas House of Representatives and was succeeded by State Representative James Talarico when she chose to run for Austin Mayo ...

. On December 13, 2022, Watson won the runoff election with 57,346 votes (50.39%) to his opponent Israel's 56,460 votes (49.61%).

Tenure

Shortly after beginning his second term as mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson faced significant criticism for his handling of and communications about long-term power outages in the city after a record-breaking ice storm on February 1, 2023, resulted in tens of thousands of city residents going without electricity for up to 12 days. In February 2023, Watson led an effort to terminate City Manager Spencer Cronk, who was fired in a 10-1 vote by City Council. The decision came following the city's response to the winter storm, as well as Cronk's decision to announce a four-year contract with the Austin Police Association — against the wishes of City Council to vote on a one-year contract amid negotiations. The council appointed Jesús Garza — a previous city manager during Watson’s previous tenure as mayor, and manager of the Stand Together Austin political action committee that supported Watson's mayoral campaign. In March 2023, amid staffing shortages, 911 response delays at the Austin Police Department, and a viral spree of street racing incidents in which cop cars were harassed with live fireworks, Watson reached an agreement with Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor

Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to: * Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player * Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist * Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...

to deploy the

Texas Department of Public Safety The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, commonly known as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), is a department of the state government of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and driver license adminis ...

troopers to patrol Austin, drawing scrutiny from some city council members who were left out of conversations prior to the announcement.

Electoral history

2022

2018

2014

2012

2010

2006

2002

2000

1997

A majority is usually required to win a mayoral election in Austin, and if no candidate receives more than 50 percent in the general election, a winner is usually determined in a runoff election. However, on May 5, 1997, two days after the general election, candidate Ronney Reynolds, a two-term council member, withdrew from the runoff resulting in Watson's election as mayor.

Personal life

Watson is married to Elizabeth Anne "Liz" McDaniel and is the father of two sons.

Notes

External links

Texas Senator Kirk Watson
official website

official government website
Project Vote Smart - Kirk Watson
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Kirk Watson
200620042002
campaign contributions * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Kirk 21st-century American politicians Baylor Law School alumni Democratic Party Texas state senators Lawyers from Oklahoma City Living people Mayors of Austin, Texas Politicians from Oklahoma City Presidents pro tempore of the Texas Senate Texas lawyers Year of birth missing (living people)