Socialist hopes dashed in Austin as homeless camping policy reversed

Based on early results, it appears a reversal of Austin's ill-advised homeless camping law is on it's way to passage by the voters.

May 1 is Local Election Day in Texas, and the capitol city of Texas is reporting a mixed bag of results based on early voting totals and over half of precincts now reporting.

The camping ban, Proposition B, is ahead with 63% of the vote. A bipartisan initiative, Save Austin Now, spearheaded the vote-for campaign, while establishment Democrats and city hall were steadfastly against -- with Democratic socialists threatening that Austin voting was trending "much, much older" and "much, much more Republican." However, according to analyst Derek Ryan, a lion's share of Democrats defied party leadership and local Democratic Socialist activists to vote for the ban, which allowed camping in public areas (and was associated with a sharp rise in crime).

But other liberal reforms are a mixed bag. Binding arbitration for city hall/firefighters union disputes (Proposition A) is passing 3-to-1.  Several propositions championed by a Soros-backed entity are failing at the time of writing, including a Strong Mayor model of governance (Proposition F) and "Democracy Dollars" (Proposition H) look dead, along with an extra Council district related to removing the mayor from the council (Proposition G).

Ranked-choice voting (Proposition E), however, has a narrow lead so far, as does police oversight by the Council (Proposition C).

 

Here are some other interesting tid-bits from tonight:

• Fort Worth-area (Congressional District 6 special election): It may be a long night, as early votes report Wright (R) 15.74%, Ellzey (R) 15.72%, Sanchez (D) 14.02%, Harrison (R) 12.81%, and Lassiter (D) 8.65%. Wright is the widow of Congressman Ron Wright who died Feb. 7.

• Lubbock: An unborn sanctuary proposition is passing roughly 16,000 to 9,500 votes.

• San Antonio: Incumbent liberal mayor Ron Nirenberg has 63% of the early vote to conservative challenger Greg Brockhouse's 31%.

• Statewide: Incumbents are faring well, while proposals backed by incumbent mayors (e.g. Austin's Steve Adler and Dallas's Eric Johnson) are not doing so hot.

 This article originally appeared in The Hayride (8:55 p.m. updated version).