Join us on May 11th from 11:30AM-1:00PM at Bob's Chop House as we visit with Senator Kirk Watson regarding the 2022 Austin Mayoral Race.
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ABOUT SENATOR KIRK WATSON:
For three decades, Kirk Watson has been immersed in public policy, spanning local and state government in Texas. He’s led on a wide range of issues including education, health care, transportation, and government transparency.
Elected mayor of Austin at 40-years-old, Kirk helped Austin navigate its first tech boom, driving initiatives that accommodated an influx of people and businesses in ways that addressed affordability, the economy, and things people love about Austin. He did it by bringing different political sides together — leveraging the community’s creativity, commitment, and compassion to advance transformative downtown, environmental, transportation, and public safety initiatives.
Kirk was elected state Senator representing the Austin area in 2006. He served until 2020 when he left to become the Founding Dean of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.
Kirk led the effort to create the Dell Medical School at UT Austin. His successful “10 Goals in 10 Years” initiative also led to the construction of a brand new 21st-century safety net and teaching hospital, built entirely without taxpayer funding. He also led a bipartisan legislative effort both to fund a new Austin State Hospital and to thoroughly redesign the approach to mental health services in Austin and across Texas.
The Texas Municipal League recognized Kirk for his outstanding leadership on behalf of cities. At the Capitol, he filed and passed bills aimed at employing diverse strategies to create affordable housing and make Austin more affordable. He fought efforts to reduce Austin’s control of its destiny, especially in cases where the Texas legislature wanted to undermine local policies that help people live and thrive here.
Among many other recognitions, Watson was honored multiple times in Texas Monthly magazine’s analysis of the state's best legislators. In 1998, the magazine described him as “a man with a vision of what the community wants—and the moxie to carry it out.”
Watson graduated from Baylor University and ranked first in his law school class at Baylor Law School. He has been named an outstanding young alumnus of Baylor, Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year, and the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas.
In February, Senator Watson announced that he is running for Austin Mayor again to ensure that our city effectively addresses the range of issues that will define our future. The election is in November of this year.
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