The road to finding the Democrat who will represent House District 49 and Central Austin, for lack of a Republican candidate, was a crowded one. Back in March, Austinites cast their votes for their pick amidst a packed field with several promising, competitive opponents.
Kathie Tovo and Montserrat Garibay emerged from that crowd as quite different candidates: Garibay, a bilingual teacher, labor union organizer, and education champion, but ultimately a first-time candidate for elected office. Tovo, with over a decade of local elected official experience on the Austin City Council – and her passion for affordability, climate protections, and quality public education had clearly not stagnated since that tenure.
The night was not easily predicted. Though Garibay had led in March, both candidates had fought hard to win the typically fewer votes in a runoff election. But shortly before 8pm, almost 10,000 votes had been counted. Garibay had claimed almost 60% of the vote.
When those numbers went live, the Peruvian restaurant in North Austin where Garibay’s party gathered for the night erupted. Her supporters ecstatically engulfed the candidate as she embraced her family. “When we organize, we win!” they chanted, some pumping their fists in the air.
The Chronicle pulled Garibay aside, and her eyes were full of emotion. “It feels beautiful,” Garibay said. “It feels surreal that an undocumented child that came to this country 33 years ago would ever have the opportunity to represent the community that embraced her. … And now, I get to give that beautiful gift back to the community.”
With nearly 16,000 votes cast, Garibay finished the night with 62.3% of the vote, and Tovo with 37.7%.
“If we really organize, we can change the way things are,” Garibay continued. “People want someone who understands their issues. I think our campaign really brought that to the table. When you do things with love and integrity, I think you can really change the way things are.”
Among those present were Garibay’s former pre-K students, now of voting age with some casting a ballot for the first time. College students showed up from organizations like University Democrats and Austin Young Democrats, gathering around plates of tamales and plátanos.
Despite the semester coming to an end, typically causing lower student participation in May runoff elections, UT-Austin students with University Democrats mobilized to get over 400 students on campus to vote in the runoff, José Perez-Cabarcas, communications director for University Democrats, told the Chronicle.
“We did a major vote-by-mail campaign. We put flyers on all the apartments, we put signs all around campus,” he continued. “And then when election season started, we poll-greeted from 7am to nearly 7pm every day.”
As a Latino student interested in political activism, Perez-Cabarcas felt inspired by Garibay when he met her. “That’s why I started working with her,” he said. “Especially with a Hispanic, undocumented background, I think it’s like if my mom was running for the state House.”
Julieta Garibay, who has organized alongside her sister for years, joked that this will be their first weekend off in a long time. “We have not stopped knocking on doors, talking to people every single weekend, no free weekends,” she laughed.
“I literally got to knock on some of the doors near our first home. It was a tiny home, no central AC,” she continued. “And just being there was … a reminder of where we started here in the U.S., and where Montse is going.”
Around 9pm, Garibay stood on a chair to address the room. “You know, this is what it looks like, the beauty of democracy. When people see a candidate that understands the issues, that talks the same language,” she told the crowd surrounding her. “Thank you for the beautiful rainbow that I see of people, of hopes and dreams. I am ready to fucking organize.”
In our conversation, she had echoed similar words. “As bad as things are in the United States, democracy is still alive.”
The early voting results arrived later than expected – 8pm – but when they came, they ended any speculation as to the outcome. The Kathie Tovo supporters who’d filled a back room of La Mancha on Hancock Drive began the bitter process of wondering what went wrong.
“I feel like my generation doesn’t know her,” one of the few millennials in the room told us. “You can’t find a reel about her on Instagram. But I’m not lying when I say Kathie was going to fuck up the Republicans. She would have been critiquing their legislation, finding points of order, just taking the fight to them.”
That sentiment was repeated in a less profane manner many times over the ensuing hour. Tovo’s supporters insisted she would have served as an example to other Democrats by challenging House Republicans, particularly leadership. Now, they will be watching Garibay’s performance, hoping she brings the same energy and game.
Soon, the candidate herself walked through the door, commiserating briefly with individual supporters, then standing on a chair to address the group. It was a familiar message: Tovo acknowledged her defeat, thanked her supporters, and wished Garibay the best of luck in the work to come.
“When I set out to do this, I had so many of you with me, committed to making sure that we had a strong presence in the Capitol, fighting back against the Republicans, fighting for our public schools, fighting for our working families, fighting for our environment,” Tovo said. “And those fights are not going to go away. We’re going to need each and every one of us down there, committed to that work, because our state is in a political crisis.”
Tovo then called out by name those who’d worked beside her over the last seven months, including her political team of Jim Wick, Laura Hernandez, and David Butts. Wick told us he was surprised at the decisiveness of the vote, particularly the fact that Garibay made such a good showing in neighborhoods like Hyde Park, where Tovo was expected to dominate. Wick also spoke about his personal affection for the candidate, saying she lacks the self-aggrandizing instincts of most politicians. “That’s what I like about her,” he said. “That’s what I love about her. Maybe those kinds of politicians aren’t viable these days.”
Tovo went around the room one more time, speaking to every supporter, then quietly out of La Mancha. Suddenly, the room was almost empty. Servings of cake and slices of chicken quesadilla lay uneaten at the buffet table. Butts sat with a few stragglers, genial as ever, unflappable. “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening,” he said, quoting Groucho Marx. “This wasn’t it.”
This article appears in May 29 • 2026.
