TYLER COUNTY – The midterm elections drew a record number of voters to the polls, statewide, for the early voting period, and saw more than 19 million Texans registered to vote.
While the race for the seat in the U.S. Senate currently occupied by John Cornyn was decisively won by Democrat state lawmaker James Talarico, from Round Rock, over Republican Ken Paxton, and incumbents in the state’s executive branch lost to Democrats, Tyler County voters favored Republicans by a majority.
For the midterm election, 7,364 ballots were cast in Tyler County, in total, with 4,410 of those coming from early voters. That mirrored a statewide trend, that showed where more than 40% of the state’s registered voters cast ballots during the early voting period, surpassing a record set in 2018, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
The wins of Talarico, governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, lieutenant governor-elect Vikki Goodwin and others, have, according to some reports, been likely attributable to factors such as the economy and cost of living, as well as data centers.
In Tyler County, incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott got 5,967 votes, while Hinojosa drew 1,171. It was a similar trend with the Senate race, with Paxton getting 5,724 Tyler County votes to Talarico’s 1,262.
That race, in particular, made history, as it was the first time since 1988 Texans had put a Democrat in the Senate, since Lloyd Bentsen. Statewide, Talarico got about 5.4 million votes to Paxton’s 4.2 million.
Other new faces in Texas leadership after Tuesday include Democrats Vikki Goodwin, who defeated incumbent Republican Dan Patrick for the Lieutenant Governor seat and Nathan Johnson, who defeated Mayes Middleton to serve as the state’s new attorney general.
For the TX-36 congressional seat, long-serving Republican Brian Babin pulled ahead of challenger Rhonda Hart late in the night last Tuesday, and the race was called for Babin, with him earning 53.6% of the votes.
Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) won decisively over Democratic challenger Bobby Tillman for the Texas Senate District 3 seat. Ashby’s current seat in the House was won by Rocky Thigpen, who defeated Democrat Shelley Tatum.
In city elections, both mayoral positions of Ivanhoe and Woodville were on the ballot, with incumbent Skip Blackstone of Ivanhoe winning reelection with 615 votes to challenger James Tate’s 281. Woodville mayor Amy Bythewood lost her bid for reelection to challenger Kelly Cordes Dillard. Bythewood earned 376 votes to Dillard’s 463. On the Ivanhoe city council election, Chuck Vonderlin got 458 votes; Tom Himmer 265 and Bobby Tull 385. The Woodville City Council saw Morgan Tucker Hoskins win with 328 votes over challengers Paul D. Werner (270 votes) and Sally Ciancimino (166) for the Alderman Place 1 spot. For Place 4, Jason A. Drake got 484 votes over Mike Cabaniss’s 245.
The Pct. 4 Commissioner race saw Matthew Johnson winning with 75.5% of the vote, and write-in candidate Brent Marcum earning 23%.
The Chester ISD Board of Trustees election had several challengers, with Josh Clarke getting 106 votes; Ross Toler 82; Jesse Gay 89; Bryan Martin 68; Amber Davis 100 and Brittany Neal 73. This election was for four seats.
Colmesneil ISD had challengers vying for three spots, with Lance Seamans getting 344 votes; Becky Grounds Graham 293; Hunter Morgan 206; Eric L. Lee 154; Kaleb Hughes 156 and Bill Cooper 122.
Warren ISD had Blake Riley getting 886 votes to defeat Kaycee Anthony, with 797. Board members Billie Read; Kimen Johnson and Blake Burkett ran unopposed.
In the Spurger ISD trustees election, Paul Bingham won with 237 votes over Jeffrey Hartman’s 64 for the Place 6 spot.
All of the propositions on the ballots passed, including a local option for precinct 1 pertaining to liquor, with 952 voting for and 526 against. The propositions pertaining to Emergency Services District 3, for White Tail Ridge and Shady Grove, both passed, as well.
