Austin Mayor Kirk Watson declared victory on his social media pages on Thursday, November 14 after the last batch of unofficial ballot tallies were released.

Kirk Watson has declared victory in Austin’s mayoral race following the count of outstanding votes in Travis and Williamson counties this week. The incumbent appears to have won the election outright, avoiding a runoff in the five-way race, by less than two dozen votes.

AUSTIN - Five candidates battled it out for the position of Austin mayor. The incumbent, Kirk Watson, has been re-elected to the seat. Watson was mayor of Austin from 1997 until 2001. He then spent 13 years working in the Texas Senate.

More than a week after Election Day, incumbent Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has declared victory.Updated election results on Thursday showed Watson had narrowly avoided another runoff, claiming outright victory by securing more than 50% of the vote.

As of a few minutes ago, the ballots are all counted and I’m grateful to have been re-elected to serve a full four-year term in the mayor’s office. I’m also proud to have won by a margin of over 104,000 votes – almost 30 percentage points. I want to thank voters for their... pic.twitter.com/DnVfTtjxTa

Kirk Watson has officially won a new term as Austin's next mayor. Watson led his four challengers on Nov. 5, but did not have enough to claim victory outright. He had to win a majority of the vote, or 50% plus one vote, to secure a new term.

As challengers seek to claim the top seat on Austin's governing body, the incumbent's name recognition, money and wide appeal are posing obstacles.

When the Travis County Clerk released the final tally of votes for Austin mayor early Wednesday, none of the candidates had enough to claim victory. Incumbent Kirk Watson was ahead with just over 50 percent of the vote.

Mayor Kirk Watson is defending his seat against four opponents. He needs to earn 50% of the vote, plus one vote, to avoid a runoff election in December.

The ballot counts released Thursday show Watson winning the five-way race outright by about a dozen votes. The outcome of the mayoral race has been unclear since the Nov. 5 election, when unofficial final vote totals showed Watson had garnered 50.

More than a week after Election Day, all Travis County ballots have been unofficially tallied and they're enough for KXAN to call the Austin mayoral race. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has more than 50% of the vote and is projected to win outright.