Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has been immersed in public policy in both local and state government in Texas for three decades. He won his first term as Austin mayor in 1997 and earned praise for bringing different political factions together around transformative environmental and economic development initiatives. Watson returned to Austin City Hall in 2023 for a third term as mayor after serving more than 13 years in the Texas Senate, where he led on issues such as public education, healthcare and government transparency. Watson also was the founding dean of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.