Kirk Preston Watson is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 59th mayor of Austin, Texas, since 2023, previously holding the office as the 54th mayor from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran unsuccessfully for Texas Attorney General in the 2002 election, when he was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott, later governor of Texas. In 2006, Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) can refer to one of several ranked voting methods used in some cities and states in the United States. The term is not strictly defined, but most often refers to instant-runoff voting (IRV) or single transferable vote (STV).
Instant-runoff voting (IRV), also known as ranked-choice voting or the alternative vote (AV), combines ranked voting together with a system for choosing winners from these rankings by repeatedly eliminating the candidate with the fewest first-place votes and reassigning their votes until only one candidate is left. It can be seen as a modified form of a runoff election or exhaustive ballot in which, after eliminating some candidates, the choice among the rest is made from already-given voter rankings rather than from a separate election. Many sources conflate this system of choosing winners with ranked-choice voting more generally, for which several other systems of choosing winners have also been used.
The 2009 Burlington mayoral election was held in March 2009 for the city of Burlington, Vermont. This was the second mayoral election since the city's 2005 change to instant-runoff voting (IRV), after the 2006 mayoral election. In the 2009 election, incumbent Burlington mayor won reelection as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party, defeating Kurt Wright in the final round with 48% of the vote.
The 2004 San Diego mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Dick Murphy stood for reelection for a second term.
The 2013–2014 San Diego mayoral special election was a special election to elect the Mayor of San Diego. The election was made necessary by the resignation of Bob Filner on August 30, 2013. The winner stood to serve out the balance of Filner's term, which ended in 2016.
Stephen Ira Adler is an American lawyer and politician who was the 58th mayor of Austin, Texas from 2015 to 2023.
The election for mayor of the City and County of San Francisco was held on November 5, 2019. Incumbent Mayor London Breed, who had previously been elected in a special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Mayor Ed Lee, was reelected to a first full term in office. All local elections in California are nonpartisan.
The 1931 San Diego mayoral election was held on April 7, 1931 to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Harry C. Clark stood for reelection to a third term. In the primary election, Clark and Walter W. Austin received the most votes and advanced to a runoff election. Austin was then elected mayor with a majority of the votes in the runoff.
The 1932 San Diego mayoral election was held on April 26, 1932 to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Walter W. Austin did not stand for reelection. In the primary election, John F. Forward Jr. and William E. Harper received the most votes and advanced to a runoff election. Forward was then elected mayor with a majority of the votes in the runoff.
The Mayor of Gainesville is, for ceremonially purposes, receipt of service of legal processes and the purposes of military law, official head of the city of Gainesville, Florida and otherwise a member of, and chair of, the city commission, required to preside at all meetings thereof. The mayor is also allowed to vote on all matters that come before the city commission, but has no veto powers.
The 2019 Denver mayoral election was the 2019 edition of the quadrennial elections held to determine the Mayor of the City of Denver, Colorado. The election was held on May 7, 2019. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on June 4, 2019, between the two candidates with the most votes, incumbent Mayor Michael Hancock and Jamie Giellis. Hancock defeated Giellis in the runoff election, winning a third term as Mayor, and becoming the first mayor to be reelected to a third term since Wellington Webb in 1999. Hancock's third inauguration was held on July 15, 2019.
On May 4, 2019, the city of San Antonio, Texas held an election to choose the next mayor of San Antonio. The election was a nonpartisan blanket primary. As no candidate secured a majority of the vote, a runoff was held on June 8, 2019, between the two top candidates, incumbent mayor Ron Nirenberg and San Antonio City Councilman Greg Brockhouse. In the runoff, Nirenberg narrowly defeated Brockhouse, 51.11% to 48.89%.
An election for Mayor of Tampa was held on March 5, 2019. The election is officially nonpartisan, and the winner is elected to a four-year term.
Chicago has held regularly-scheduled popular elections to select the city's mayor ever since it was incorporated as a city in 1837.
The 2019 Houston mayoral election was decided by a runoff that took place on December 14, 2019 to elect the Mayor of Houston. Incumbent mayor Sylvester Turner defeated attorney Tony Buzbee in the runoff by 56.04% to 43.96%. No candidate won a majority of the vote during the general election on November 5, 2019 where Turner received 46% of the vote and Buzbee received 29%.
The 2014 Oakland mayoral election was held on November 4, 2014 to elect the mayor of Oakland, California. It saw the election of Libby Schaaf, who unseated incumbent mayor Jean Quan.
The 2010 Oakland mayoral election was held on November 2, 2010 to elect the mayor of Oakland, California, electing Jean Quan to be their mayor. In early August 2010, incumbent mayor Ron Dellums announced that he would not be seeking reelection to a second term. In November 2010, Oakland also instant-runoff voting to elect its mayor, three city council races and four other local offices, with the elections for the mayor and Oakland council district four requiring multiple rounds of counting. Oakland used instant-runoff voting in the city's remaining elected offices in 2012. IRV was again used in 2014 and 2016, including in the 2014 mayoral election in which incumbent Jean Quan was defeated by Libby Schaaf.
The 2022 Tallahassee mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, to elect the Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida. The vote was held subsequently along with the other statewide elections.
The 2022 Austin mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the next mayor of Austin, Texas. The election was nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations did not appear on the ballot. Incumbent mayor Steve Adler was term-limited and could not run for re-election. In the general election, state representative Celia Israel and former mayor Kirk Watson took the first two spots, leading realtor Jennifer Virden and several other candidates. Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the race proceeded to a runoff election between Israel and Watson on December 13, which Watson won by 30 votes.
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