Austin City Council Election 2011

The 2011 council election handed incumbents Laura Morrison and Chris Riley easy victories.

Incumbent Randi Shade, however, trailed challenger Kathie Tovo by more than 13 points in the general election. Unlike several previous runners-up—mayoral candidate Ronney Reynolds, incumbent Council Member Beverly Griffith, and mayoral candidate Brewster McCracken—Shade declined to concede defeat by withdrawing from the runoff.

The Shade-Tovo runoff was hard fought and drew 42,511 total ballots compared to just 32,018 that had been cast in the general election for Place 3.

But the result was the same, as Tovo garnered 56.26 percent of the vote to Shade’s 43.74 percent.