Mike Siegel Prevails Over Gary Bledsoe in Low-Turnout Runoff

Mike Siegel (at left) won against Gary Bledsoe by a slim margin (art by Zeke Barbaro / Getty Images (Photos courtesy of the candidates’ campaigns))

The race for City Council’s District 7 seat is finally settled, with Mike Siegel prevailing over Gary Bledsoe in the Dec. 14 runoff election.

It was a tight race in a predictably low-turnout election. After polls closed Saturday night, Bledsoe was ahead of Siegel by about 50 votes. But by Sunday evening, as election day votes were counted, Siegel pulled ahead – unofficial results currently show Siegel winning by 202 votes.

Just 8,598 people voted in the runoff, in total – a steep decline from the 34,000 people who cast a vote in the D7 general election on Nov. 5. In that election, Siegel took in about 40% of the vote.

With such low turnout, the runoff race was a bitter fight between the two candidates, with Bledsoe’s campaign sending out mailers that labeled Siegel as an anti-police activist over the attorney’s recent work representing Equity Action, the justice advocacy group that wrote the Austin Police Oversight Act.

The campaign also saw Bledsoe, a prodigious civil rights attorney who has served as the Texas NAACP president, accept support from right-wing group Save Austin Now, which has supported local Republican candidates in Austin. An unusual alliance, but one reflective of the rightward tack Bledsoe took in attempting to win the election.

Siegel is likely to bring a forceful left-wing perspective to the Council dais – something akin to the position that former Council Member Greg Casar occupied. That could result in the new CM pushing for more police accountability and transparency or more funding for public safety approaches that do not center on increased law enforcement funding – which could explain why Save Austin Now supported Bledsoe.

Siegel is also likely to join the strong “Yes In My Backyard” majority on Council – the YIMBY members that generally favor easing local restrictions on the housing market. With Siegel’s election, the number of YIMBY members will increase from nine to 10, so his election doesn’t have the same potential to shift discussions on housing policy as it does with policing.

New and returning Council members will be sworn into office in January.