Kirk Watson fundraises nearly $1M in Austin mayoral race, other candidates trail significantly

AUSTIN (KXAN) — With only about a month until the November election, candidates for Austin mayor have submitted their 30-day campaign finance report showing how much money they’ve been able to bring in and how much they’ve got left to spend.

Mayor Kirk Watson has pulled in more than $927,000 since the start of the year, his report shows. It’s more than all of his challengers combined and then some.

“He’s spent his other opponents basically into the ground,” said Brian Smith, a St. Edward’s University political science professor. “He almost lost the last time around, so he made a real effort not to be outspent, to really raise a lot of money and really try to distance himself from the other candidates.”

Here’s what the latest round of campaign finance reports show in order of most money raised. You can find the reports here.

Mayor

Mayor Kirk Watson

In the most recent report, Watson reported more than $216,000 in additional contributions since July — bringing him to more than $927,000 since the start of the year.

He’s got nearly $277,000 on hand heading into the last month, his 30-day report showed.

“Donations are a key indicator of community support. To get to nearly a million raised under a $450 donation cap while serving as mayor is no small feat and shows the enthusiasm we have,” Watson’s campaign team said.

Carmen Llanes Pulido

Llanes Pulido leapfrogged Greco in funding reported by a hair. She brought in nearly $34,000 in contributions since July, according to her latest report, bringing her to more than $104,000 since the start of the year.

Llanes Pulido also reported an outstanding loan of $20,000 and she spent more than $37,000 leaving her with only $4,661.29 on hand going into the final month, her 30-day report showed.

Doug Greco

Greco brought in a little more than $10,000 in the latest reporting period, bringing him to nearly $100,000 since the start of the year, his reports showed.

Greco has a little more than $45,000 in unspent funding.

“Mr. Greco has also not accepted an additional 25 donations from outside the city in this reporting period in order to make a good faith effort to comply with an existing City of Austin rule limiting donations geographically. He has sued the city to overturn this rule which he believes is unconstitutional since it favors incumbents and wealthy candidates, and is currently waiting on a ruling for his request for a preliminary injunction,” a Greco release said.

Greco was the only mayoral candidate to sign the city of Austin Campaign Contract, he reported, which caps candidates contributions but promises them a pool of public funding should they make it to a runoff. Because Greco was the only candidate to sign that contract, he is no longer beholden to the $120,000 campaign limit as of August.

Kathie Tovo

The former Austin City Council member pulled in nearly $20,000 more in political contributions since July, according to her 30-day report, bringing her to roughly $77,000 since the start of the year.

Tovo has more than $44,000 on hand as of this month, according to that same report.

It also shows Tovo has $181,807 in outstanding loans, though only roughly $20,000 of it is associated with her mayoral campaign, Tovo told KXAN. The other roughly $160,000 came from her first two council campaigns, she said.

Tovo sent KXAN a statement which said the following:

As we head into early voting, my campaign has earned endorsements from the Austin Sierra Club, the National Women’s Political Caucus Austin Chapter, my former colleagues Council Member Alison Alter and Council Member Ora Houston, former Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman, Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder, and many, many others—and our volunteer team includes more than 180 Austinites who are blockwalking, writing postcards, and helping me reach out to voters. The incumbent mayor has raised a lot more money, but we’re not going to let big money define this election, and neither should the voters. Every day my campaign gains momentum and support from Austinites who want new leadership at City Hall—and a mayor committed to transparent government and to working with the community on Austin’s biggest challenges.

Jeffery Bowen

Bowen jumped in the race in late August, so this is his first campaign finance report. Bowen has brought in $11,355 in donations since he joined the race in August and reported $2,000 in outstanding loans.

Of that, Bowen has spent less than $4,000 and has nearly $10,000 on hand, according to his report.