COLDSPRING — While most local offices remain unchanged, there was an upset in the District Attorney’s office as Greg Magee won the nomination over incumbent Todd Dillon 2,736 to 1,939.
Also, Christina Magee lost her re-election bid for Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 to challenger Tony L. Sewell, 596 to 547.
All votes in the March 3 primary election are unofficial until canvassed by the San Jacinto County Commissioners Court.
County Judge Fritz Faulkner garnered 63.75 percent of the vote in his re-election bid, gaining 3,088 votes to fend off challenges from former County Commissioner David Brandon, who picked up 1,116 votes, and Barbara Harrison Justice, who got 640 votes.
District Clerk Tammy Currie also retained her seat, getting 2,347 votes, while challengers Lisa Miller got 1,151 and Katey Nelson 1,118.
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Donnie Marrs picked up 603 votes ahead of challengers Will Hall, who got 149, and Wald Williams, who got 30. Precinct 4 Commissioner Mark Nettuno retains his seat, beating Zackary Currie 1,206 to 500.
Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Randy Ellisor won re-election with 909 votes over challengers Shane Hindman with 240 and Tiffany Pinkston with 100. Precinct 4 JP Kim Webb and Precinct 2 JP Harris “Red” Blanchette were unopposed in the primary.
Incumbent County Treasurer DeeDee Bailey lost to Cynthia “Cindy” McClure 2,152 to 2,110, while candidate Sonya Singleton Runyon got 366. Since neither got the required majority of votes, Bailey and McClure will end up in a runoff in May.
On the state front, SJC voters mirrored the voting trend. They overwhelmingly backed Gov. Greg Abbott with 78.39 percent of the vote and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick with 84.39 percent of the vote.
Incumbent Audrey Young won 2,563 SJC votes and 51,820 district-wide votes over George Brian Vachris’ 1,507 and 20,999 to gain the GOP nomination for District 8 of the State Board of Education. She will face Democrat Dana van de Walker in the November general election, who garnered 70,000 district votes over challenger Shahzeb Meghani, who gained 28,897.
Incumbent District 5 State Sen. Charles Schwertner picked up 2,877 SJC and 24,174 district votes to gain the nomination and will face Democrat Paul Thomasson in the general election.
Incumbent 258th District Judge Travis Kitchens won his nomination over challenger Robert Freyer 9,069 to 6,119.
In federal races, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn will be in a runoff with challenger and former Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn got 41.73 percent of the vote to Paxton’s 40.99 percent.
In the newly redistricted U.S. House of Representatives District 10 race, Chris Gober dominated a field of 9 candidates to gain 51.25 percent of the vote and the Republican nomination. He will face Democrat nominee Caitlin Rourk, who picked up 60.84 percent of the vote over two challengers, in the general election.
