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Election 2026Updated counts

Updated unofficial counts: Austin's council results hold as the last ballots come in

The latest updates from local outlets show the same two winners and the same three Dec. 12 runoffs. Here is each race with its source and time stamp, and the ballots that can still be added before Nov. 16.

By Austin Politics staffUpdated

Two days after Election Day, the latest unofficial counts published by Austin news outlets show no change in who won. Selena Xie took District 8 and Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri kept District 9. Districts 1, 3 and 5 are headed to a Dec. 12 runoff. These numbers are still unofficial, and a small number of ballots can still be added before the results are made official.

We tried to check the Travis County Clerk's results site directly on Thursday morning, but it would not load for us. The figures below come from the most recent updates we could find, each with the time it was posted. Our Wednesday roundup has the election-night numbers.

The latest numbers, race by race

  • District 1 (runoff). Amber Goodwin and Misael Ramos each had just over 34%, with Goodwin ahead by 73 votes and Michael Nahas more than 10 points behind, according to Community Impact, last updated at 12:17 p.m. Nov. 4. KUT, updated at 12:14 p.m. Nov. 4, said each had just over a third of the vote. The Austin Chronicle, in a story updated Nov. 5, reported that the Ramos campaign also put the gap at 73 votes.
  • District 3 (runoff). Council Member José Velásquez had 47.3% and Neha Shah 24.7%. Eduardo Romero had 12.1%, Brock Skinner 9.6% and Gavino Fernandez Jr. 6.3%, according to KUT, updated at 11:27 a.m. Nov. 4.
  • District 5 (runoff). Council Member Ryan Alter had 47.77% and David Weinberg 26.18%. Liz Brink had 16% and Farrah Abraham 10.05%, according to KUT, updated at 12:03 p.m. Nov. 4.
  • District 8 (decided). Xie had 64.36%, or 22,227 votes to Jeffery Bowen's 12,311, KXAN reported. The Chronicle's Nov. 5 update rounds her share to 64%.
  • District 9 (decided). Qadri had 51.38%, Rich Heyman 24.74%, Katie Kam 17.5%, Kai Huang 4.48% and Dave Thadani 1.9%, according to KUT, updated at 12:04 p.m. Nov. 4. KUT described those as final but unofficial Travis County totals.

Qadri's share is about 1.4 points above the 50% line. "This was a close election, and I don't take a single vote for granted," he said in a written statement quoted by KUT.

Citywide and school results

  • Prop I. Combined Travis, Williamson and Hays County tallies show the audit measure lost 55% to 45%, or about 189,000 votes to 155,000, according to KUT's propositions story. One KUT race story gives a different split for Prop I; we use the combined three-county figure.
  • Austin ISD at-large Position 9. Pamela Mathai and Cynthia Soliz each had nearly 43%, and Kirk Becker 14%, according to KUT, updated at 3:14 p.m. Nov. 4. They meet in the Dec. 12 runoff.
  • Turnout. About 58% of registered voters in the three counties cast ballots, the second-highest midterm turnout since 2000, KUT reported.

What can still be added

The Texas Secretary of State's canvass advisory for city and school elections sets out the late ballots that still count:

  • certain domestic mail ballots that arrived by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4;
  • ballots from overseas civilian voters and military voters received by Monday, Nov. 9;
  • mail ballots whose envelope defects a voter fixes in person at the early voting clerk's office by Nov. 9;
  • provisional ballots, once the early voting ballot board decides which ones qualify.

The ballot board has until Monday, Nov. 16, to count all of these. In a race as close as District 1, the order of the top two could still shift. Both of its top two candidates advance either way, so that would not change who is on the runoff ballot.

What our records add

The council certifies the count. Austin's results become final only when the City Council canvasses them. Last year that took a special called meeting on Nov. 17, 2025, to canvass the November 2025 election. The vote passed with six members voting in favor in a meeting that lasted about two minutes.

The deadline comes before the next regular meeting. State rules put this year's local canvass between Nov. 6 and Nov. 17. The council's next regular meeting after today is Nov. 19, the date an item on today's agenda is being moved to. So the canvass will need a separate meeting. Our explainer on the canvass covers what the council has to do and the recount deadlines that follow.

What's next

  • Nov. 9: Last day for overseas and military ballots and for in-person fixes to mail ballot envelopes.
  • Nov. 16: Ballot board's deadline to finish counting.
  • By Nov. 17: Council canvass.
  • Dec. 12: Runoffs in Districts 1, 3 and 5 and for Austin ISD Position 9. Here is how to vote.