Kirk Watson

Kirk Preston Watson (born 1958) 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.

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

He subsequently clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

On the first day of the 86th Legislature, he was chosen by his colleagues—Democrats and Republicans—to serve as president pro tempore.

The position typically goes to the most senior member, regardless of party, who has not yet served as President Pro Tem, and is second in line of succession to the Governor.

It was announced by the Austin American-Statesman that Watson planned to resign from the Texas State Senate to become the first dean of the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs.

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

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

In 1991, 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.

During his tenure, he worked to merge the agency with the Texas Air Control Board and the Texas Water Commission to form the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, and oversaw implementation of the 1991 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act.

In 1994, he was named the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas.

In 1997, Watson co-founded the Austin law firm of Watson Bishop London & Galow, creating a broad law practice that represented families, doctors, small businesses, and some of the state's major universities.

In 1997, after Watson moved from Rollingwood to Austin, he was elected mayor of Austin, a nonpartisan position.

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

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

Watson's signature accomplishments as mayor included the transformation of Downtown Austin into a "24-hour downtown" by encouraging development of housing and retail in place of vacant warehouses and parking lots, partially through tax incentives and the city's Smart Growth initiatives.

In 1999, 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.

Watson, along with architect Larry Speck, courted the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) by offering a $10.4 million tax incentive to anchor two office buildings on the site in lieu of building their planned campus in a watershed, and under the condition that CSC foot the bill for a new city hall building.

The first two buildings were constructed and are now part of the Second Street District, while CSC vacated the premises before following through with the construction of the present-day Austin City Hall.

In 2000, 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.

In 2000, Watson was reelected with 84% of the vote – the highest percentage a mayoral candidate has ever received in Austin.

In November 2001, he stepped down to run unsuccessfully for Texas Attorney General in the 2002 election, losing 41% to 57% to now-Governor Greg Abbott.

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 2005, he served as chairman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

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

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

He received more than 80 percent of the vote.

Watson was unopposed in the March 2006 Democratic Primary.

He 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.

In 2008, he was appointed as one of two senators to the state Business Tax Advisory Committee.

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.

In 2009, he led the fight against a budget rider that would have effectively banned embryonic stem cell research at Texas universities.

The rider ultimately was not adopted.

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

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

His resignation was effective April 30, 2020.

With incumbent Mayor Steve Adler not seeking another term, Watson entered the race to become Austin mayor for a second time.

He was elected for his second stint as mayor in the 2022 Austin mayoral election runoff with 50.4% of the vote.

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