Austin Mayor Kirk Watson reports huge haul in re-election campaign

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is cementing his front-runner status in his re-election bid with an impressive campaign cash haul and a vast set of endorsements.

Why it matters: Money buys yard signs, campaign staff and television and radio ads, and in a citywide race, name ID is critical.

• Having served as mayor in the late 1990s and Austin's state senator for 13 years, Watson is already a known quantity among dedicated Travis County voters, but with Austin mayoral elections now coming in presidential years, candidates need to acquaint themselves with the wider electorate that will turn out to the polls.

By the numbers: Campaign finance reports aren't due to the city clerk until July 15, but Watson announced Tuesday that his re-election campaign raised more than $710,000 between mid-April and June 30.

• Axios asked each of his opponents — Doug Greco, Carmen Llanes Pulido and Kathie Tovo — for their fundraising totals during that period.
• Greco said his team is still putting their campaign finance report together and Tovo said she would release figures later this month. Axios did not immediately hear back from Llanes Pulido.
• Greco is the former executive director of Central Texas Interfaith, a nonprofit that focuses on homelessness and housing affordability; Llanes Pulido is an affordable housing advocate who runs the group Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin ; and Tovo is a former Austin City Council member who has taught courses in urban politics at the University of Texas.

Flashback: Watson raised and spent nearly $2 million in his 2022 race, which included a runoff, against Celia Israel.

Yes, but: Watson's Achilles heel may be his ill-fated 2023 policing partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

• The effort was intended to bolster an understaffed Austin Police Department but ended after the partnership led to widespread arrests of Black and Hispanic people and became politically untenable.
• Still, even that misadventure could win him credit with a key voting constituency — homeowners west of MoPac — who delivered him to victory in 2022 and who have named public safety as a key priority.

What they're saying: "With help from folks all across Austin, our campaign is meeting and exceeding our fundraising and organizing goals," Watson said in a statement.

• Watson is emphasizing competency at City Hall — he ousted city manager Spencer Cronk after widespread power outages following a 2023 ice storm; an ambitious easing of home construction restrictions; investments in job training and combating homelessness; and efforts to protect Austin public transit projects from getting dismantled by state officials.

The other side: "I won't allow big money to define this race, and voters shouldn't either," Tovo told Axios.

• Austin voters, she added, "want a mayor who puts people first, is committed to transparent government (and) will deliver community-led solutions for our city's most pressing challenges."
• "Our campaign ... is raising the money needed to get out our message on improving the lives of working people and fighting back on Greg Abbott's attacks on civil rights," Greco told Axios. "As a lifelong politician (Watson) has failed to solve Austin's affordability problem and refuses to stand up to the Republican leadership's assaults on Austin's values."