36 Facts About Kirk Watson

Kirk Preston Watson was born on March 18,1958 and is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 59th mayor of Austin since 2023, previously holding the office as the 54th mayor from 1997 to 2001.

In 2006, Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14.

In 2011, Kirk Watson was chosen by his Democratic colleagues to chair the Senate Democratic Caucus and served until 2015.

Kirk Watson was reelected in 2024, narrowly avoiding a runoff by 13 votes.

Kirk Watson was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Saginaw, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, where he attended Boswell High School.

Kirk Watson received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1980 and a Juris Doctor in 1981 from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

At Baylor Law School, Kirk Watson was editor-in-chief of the Baylor Law Review and graduated first in his class.

Kirk Watson subsequently clerked for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Kirk Watson was elected president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association in 1990 and served on the executive committee of the State Bar of Texas.

Kirk Watson was an active Democrat throughout the 1990s and served as the chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party.

In 1991, Kirk Watson was appointed by Governor Ann Richards to serve as chairman of the Texas Air Control Board, the state agency that was charged with protecting air quality in Texas.

In 1997, after Kirk Watson moved from Rollingwood to Austin, he was elected as the 54th mayor of Austin, a nonpartisan position.

Kirk Watson ran on a pledge to build consensus in a city that was then dominated by political battles between environmentalists and developers.

Kirk Watson campaigned to raise more than $78 million for land preservation and $300 million for transportation improvements.

In 1999, Kirk Watson spearheaded a redevelopment project along several blocks of waterfront property in Downtown Austin, in an effort to create a new public-private "digital district" in place of dilapidated warehouses and businesses including the former Liberty Lunch, which were demolished.

In 2000, Kirk Watson spearheaded a $15.1 million tax incentive for Intel to build a new headquarters in Downtown Austin; Intel stopped construction and the unfinished building was demolished in 2007 and replaced by the Austin United States Courthouse.

Kirk Watson was elected to the Texas Senate in November 2006, succeeding Senator Gonzalo Barrientos.

Kirk Watson served as vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security committee, as well as on the Senate Business and Commerce, Economic Development, Jurisprudence, and Nominations committees.

Kirk Watson has become a prominent voice on transportation, clean energy, and higher education issues, and he has campaigned to widen transparency in the state's finances and increase health coverage for Texans, particularly children.

Kirk Watson served on many committees including the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, of which he is the former Transportation Policy Board Chairman.

Kirk Watson endorsed Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic party presidential primaries.

Kirk Watson was asked by Chris Matthews to name one of Senator Obama's legislative accomplishments.

Kirk Watson considered running in the 2010 gubernatorial election, but decided in August 2009 to instead seek re-election to the Texas Senate.

In June 2013, Kirk Watson moved to overturn a ruling designed to end the filibuster of Senator Wendy Davis.

In 2019, Kirk Watson proposed a series of money-raising maneuvers to fund the lane expansion project along I-35 through Austin, including doubling the state gas tax, raising vehicle registration fees in Travis County, enacting a special sales tax, and issuing bonds.

Kirk Watson resigned from the Texas State Senate on April 30,2020, to become the first dean of the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs.

Kirk Watson then spearheaded a public effort to create a process that would allow policy makers and the public to analyze the need for transportation projects, mechanisms to pay for them, and potential public benefits from them.

On December 13,2022, Kirk Watson won the runoff election with 57,346 votes to his opponent Israel's 56,460 votes.

Kirk Watson was sworn in a second time as mayor of Austin on January 6,2023.

In March 2023, amid staffing shortages, 911 response delays at the Austin Police Department, and a viral spree of street racing incidents in which cop cars were harassed with live fireworks, Kirk Watson reached an agreement with Governor Greg Abbott and Lt.

In July 2023, Kirk Watson helped secure almost $65 million from the state of Texas for local community groups to expand emergency shelters and provide more resources for people experiencing homelessness.

Kirk Watson faced criticism from some property owners who strongly opposed any changes in the land development code that would allow for more density, citing concerns about neighborhood character and worries about increased gentrification.

Kirk Watson worked with lawmakers in the Texas House to keep Project Connect alive from a last-minute senate amendment by Bettencourt that would have killed its financing.

On October 8,2023, Kirk Watson released a statement after the events of October 7 in Israel.

Kirk Watson spoke at the event, held at the Dell Jewish Community Campus, wearing a yarmulke.

Kirk Watson is married to Elizabeth Ann "Liz" McDaniel and is the father of two sons.