Unofficial results: Xie wins District 8, Qadri keeps District 9, and three council races go to a Dec. 12 runoff

Two of Austin's five City Council races were decided on Election Night, and the other three are headed to a Dec. 12 runoff, according to unofficial results reported Wednesday morning. Selena Xie won the open District 8 seat and Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri won a second term in District 9. In Districts 1, 3 and 5, no candidate won a majority, so the top two will meet again.

All of these numbers are unofficial. They can still change as the counties add late-arriving mail ballots and provisional ballots, and they become final only when the council canvasses them.

The results so far

These figures are from Community Impact, in a story updated at 7:56 a.m. Nov. 4, unless noted.

• District 1 (open seat): Amber Goodwin and Misael Ramos each had just over 34%, with Goodwin ahead by 73 votes. Michael Nahas was more than 10 points behind. Runoff. Our District 1 story
• District 3: Incumbent José Velásquez had roughly 47%, and Neha Shah roughly 25%. Runoff. Our District 3 story
• District 5: Incumbent Ryan Alter had nearly 48%, and David Weinberg roughly 26%. Runoff. Our District 5 story
• District 8 (open seat): Xie had 22,227 votes, or 64.36%, to Jeffery Bowen's 12,311, KXAN reported. Those totals match the 34,281 votes Travis County reported and the 257 Hays County reported for the seat, according to KUT, updated 8:14 a.m.
• District 9: Qadri had 51.4%, ahead of Rich Heyman at 24.7% and Katie Kam at 17.5%, Axios Austin reported. That is close enough to the 50% line that the final count is worth watching, though no outlet we reviewed has reported a change.

Our story on the two winners covers what their terms begin with.

Why the first and later numbers differ

Travis County released early-voting totals first, at about 8:37 p.m. Tuesday, and added Election Day ballots overnight, according to Community Impact. In most races the incumbents' shares slipped a point or two as Election Day votes came in. Qadri went from 53% in early votes to just over 51%, and Velásquez from about 49% to about 47%, Community Impact reported.

The county clerk's results page is the official source for current totals. Part of District 8 is in Hays County, which counts and posts its own ballots.

What our records add

The council makes it official. The city's results are final only after a canvass, a council vote accepting the returns. Last year the council held a special called meeting on Nov. 17 to canvass the November 2025 election. Mayor Kirk Watson opened that meeting by noting that state law requires only two council members for a quorum to canvass an election. The resolution passed without objection, and the mayor listed six members voting in favor. The meeting took about two minutes.

The runoffs were set in advance. The council ordered this election on Aug. 6, in an ordinance that passed without objection, and updated it on Oct. 8 with final polling places and early voting. A candidate needs a majority of votes cast to win outright. KUT and Community Impact both report the runoff date as Dec. 12.

Two seats change hands no matter what. District 1 Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison is term-limited, and District 8 Council Member Paige Ellis did not make the ballot after her petition for a third term came up 62 valid signatures short, KUT reported in August. Both serve until the new council is seated in January.

The rest of the ballot

Voters approved the $295 million parks and library bonds, rejected the Prop I audit measure and passed five of the seven other charter amendments. Our stories on Prop I, the bonds and the charter amendments have the details. An Austin ISD at-large seat is also headed to a Dec. 12 runoff, covered here.

What's next

• Nov. 4: Last day for mail ballots to arrive by mail, according to the county's election calendar.
• Nov. 5: The current council holds its regular meeting. Our guide to its remaining calendar covers what it still has to decide.
• Mid-November: The council canvass, based on last year's timing.
• Dec. 12: Runoffs in Districts 1, 3 and 5. The county will post early voting dates and locations at votetravis.gov.
• January: The new council's first regular meeting is listed for Jan. 6 on the draft 2027 calendar.