Texas Election: Voters choose Travis County Judge

Travis County voters decide today who will be the next County Judge. The race is between incumbent Judge Andy Brown and political newcomer Rupal Chaudhari.

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – Travis County voters will decide who they want to serve for the next four years as County Judge: incumbent Andy Brown and political newcomer Rupal Chaudhari.

The County Judge and the Travis County Commissioners Court oversee the county’s $1.4 billion annual budget. The county judge acts as Travis County’s chief administrator and is the director of emergency management. 

Judge Andy Brown is Travis County’s current county judge and is running as a Democrat. He said his initiative on the COVID-19 vaccination rollout is his proudest accomplishment in his first term.

See the latest election results below after polls close at 7 p.m.

Brown helped vaccinate “a couple of 100,000 people on top of what we would have done otherwise,” Brown said.

If elected, Brown said he hopes to focus on issues of housing affordability and increasing mental services in his next term if elected. 

“I make sure that I’m standing up for democratic values. I’m standing up for civil rights like abortion care, election integrity, and making sure that our community is safer by meeting people’s mental health needs, by providing affordable housing and good jobs,” he told KXAN.

Rupal Chaudhari is an immigration attorney and mother of two. She said she never aspired to run for a political office or live a public life until the City of Austin decided to purchase a hotel to use as a homeless shelter in the same parking lot as one of her businesses. 

Chaudhari felt the location didn’t make sense and started the “Stop Candlewood” campaign, named after the hotel the shelter would replace. She later announced her candidacy for Travis County judge at the Travis County Republican Party executive meeting last year.

If elected, Chaudhari would focus on addressing homelessness, affordability and public safety.

To address these homeless, her campaign page said that local government needs to adopt a “tough-love concept and not apologize for moving [people experiencing homelessness] off public spaces, such as parks, sidewalks, and nature trails. [They should not be allowed] to impede entry or endanger private homes or businesses.”

“I’m not a career politician. I look at the world differently,” Chaudhari said. “I got into politics because I want to bring more accountability and transparency, and I want a government that listens,” she continued.