Voters Re-elect One City Council Member, Vote One Incumbent Out

AUSTIN, TX — Elections officials on Wednesday canvassed vote totals from the previous day's elections of city council members, showing incumbent Alison Alter retaining her seat and Jimmy Flannigan losing his after a single term.

Mackenzie Kelly scored an upset by defeating Flannigan for the District 6 council seat while Alter successfully fended off challenger Jennifer Virden in retaining her council position.

Kelly's victory secures a conservative voice on the council dais amid more liberal representation as liberal-minded incumbents have held all council seats for the past two years — including Flannigan who is affiliated with the Democratic Party even as local city council elections are officially nonpartisan.

While on the stump, Flannigan repeatedly attempted to paint Kelly as being on the conservative fringes by repeatedly claiming she posed for photos with white supremacists during a rally at the Capitol. Such accusations put Kelly on the defensive as she denied Flannigan's claims, saying she was photographed once in a group photo that included two people from a fringe group who surreptitiously joined the gathering without her knowledge.

During her campaign, Kelly said she was inspired to run for local office after the city council voted to reallocate some $150 million from the police budget to be directed to social agencies. Often mislabeled as "defunding the police," the move actually redirects certain police duties — dealing with homeless people or encountering people in the throes of mental crises — to social agencies specialized in such matters.

In the end, Kelly secured 7,875 votes (52.2 percent of the vote) compared with 7,198 ballots (47.8 percent), according to results posted by the Travis County Clerk and Williamson County Elections Department.

Flannigan assumed office on January 6, 2017. Flannigan's current term ends on January 7, 2021. Flannigan (also known as Jimmy) ran for re-election to the Austin City Council to represent District 6 in Texas. Flannigan lost in the general runoff election on December 15, 2020. Flannigan also ran for the city council in District 6 in 2014. He lost to Donald S. Zimmerman 49 percent to 51 percent in the December 2014 runoff election.

He would later unseat the conservative Zimmerman in his second run for the seat.

Flannigan did not respond to a text message from Patch seeking comment.

In District 10, Alter emerged the victor in a race against challenger Jennifer Virden. The former secured 12,348 votes (51.22 percent of the vote) versus 11,761 ballots cast for the latter, representing 48.78 percent of the vote.