Austin Strategic Political Action Earns Results

May 19, 2009 – Austin, TX Local 975 ratcheted up its political action efforts for the May elections. Thanks, in part, to these efforts, the candidate Local 975 supported for mayor, Lee Leffingwell, was voted into office by an impressive margin.

“When we endorse a candidate, we don’t just lend them our name,” says Stephen Truesdell, president of Local 975. “We donate a lot of time towards well-planned campaign activity, ensuring that our candidate will have the best possible chance of victory.”

When five candidates threw their hats into the ring for Austin mayor, it seemed unlikely that one candidate would earn more than 50 percent of the votes (the amount needed to win the election). Therefore, a run-off election between the top two vote-getters seemed the most likely outcome of the May election.

But, that is not what happened.

As Austin fire fighters started planning for the spring elections, the Local 975 Political Action Committee recognized that voter turnout would probably be low. So, part of the PAC’s overall strategy included a strong “Get Out The Vote” effort. The GOTV initiative did not include all precincts, but rather focused on 11 key ones.

The results spoke for themselves. Leffingwell won all 11 of those precincts, seven of them earning him more than 50 percent of the vote. Overall, Leffingwell took 47 percent of the vote, about 20 percentage points ahead of his closest competitor, Brewster McCracken. Realizing that his chances of winning in a run-off were slim, McCracken conceded to Leffingwell.

“With the election of Mayor Leffingwell and the re-election of City Council Member Mike Martinez, a former Local 975 president, we are well-positioned to have our voice heard on issues important to fire fighters,” says Mike Bewley, communications director for the Austin Firefighters Association PAC.