x
Breaking News
More () »

Austin City Council runoff elections: Here's what you need to know

On Dec. 11, the runoff election, voters will decide who will fill three open Austin City Council seats: Districts 1, 3 and 8. Here's what you need to know about each race.

AUSTIN — For three open Austin City Council seats, it was too close to call in the Nov. 6 Election. Now, voters will decide who will fill districts: 1, 3 and 8.

Early voting in the runoff elections ran from Nov. 29 to Dec. 7 before the run-off election on Dec. 11. You can learn more about polling locations, hours of operations and other races on the Travis County and Hays County websites.

Here's an explainer about each race:

District 1

Candidates Natasha Harper Madison and Mariana Salazar were in a tight race Election night, with Salazar receiving 26 percent of the votes and Harper-Madison receiving 25 percent -- a difference of a little more than 200 votes. The two were clearly the front-runners in a race that initially included four other candidates.

RELATED: Vote Texas: Austin City Council Runoff - District 1

District 1 encompasses Central and East Austin. Ora Houston, the district's previous council member, announced in June that after months of reflection and conversations with her confidants, she would not run for a second term. She was elected on Jan. 6, 2015.

FULL INTERVIEW: Natasha Harper-Madison makes her case for Austin City Council District 1 election

FULL INTERVIEW: Mariana Salazar makes her case for Austin City Council District 1 election

KVUE sent each candidate a list of questions so voters could get to know them better. Click here to see what they had to say.

Q&A: Austin City Council District 1 candidates

District 3

A sibling rivalry is reigniting in the race to represent South and East Austin's District 3.

In 2014, siblings Sabino "Pio" Renteria and Susana Almanza were in a runoff election for the same district. Renteria won in 2014. His sister filed to run against him again this year and now Renteria and Almanza will go to a runoff election again.

RELATED: Vote Texas: Austin City Council Runoff District 3

The siblings beat out four other candidates to head to the runoff.

KVUE sent each candidate a list of questions so voters could get to know them better. Click here to see what they had to say.

Q&A: Austin City Council District 3 candidates

District 8

After Austin City Council's lone conservative announced she won't be seeking re-election, four candidates announced they were running to replace her.

In the Nov. 6 Election, Paige Ellis was in the lead with 30 percent of the votes: 9,641 votes. Frank Ward, the lone Republican in the race who was endorsed by Troxclair, had 25 percent of the vote with 7,808 votes.

RELATED: Vote Texas: Austin City Council Runoff District 8

KVUE sent each candidate a list of questions so voters could get to know them better. Click here to see what they had to say.

Q&A: Austin City Council District 8 candidates

Before You Leave, Check This Out