GROVETON — State Rep. Trent Ashby, who has served for years in District 9, has won his election bid to replace Sen. Robert Nichols in the State Legislature.
Ashby, a Republican, outpaced Bobby Tillman 211,888 to 93,016 in the district. Ashby’s total in Trinity County is 4,583, while Tillman picked up 1,104.
Nichols opted not to run for another term.
In the race fill Ashby’s former spot as District 9 state representative, Republican Rocky Thigpen won with 49,899 votes to Democrat challenger Shelley Tatum’s 17,582. Thigpen gained 4,521 votes in Trinity County, while Tatum gained 1,143.
•A tax measure for Apple Springs ISD to keep the rate at .7169, or 71.69 cents per $100 of property valuation, was defeated by more than 2 to 1, with 410 district residents voting against the measure and 184 voting for it.
In the district’s Board of Trustees election, which seats the top four winning candidates, winners were all incumbents, with Amanda Roden getting 291 votes, Daniel Murray getting 253 votes, Tonya Odom getting 258 votes and Jenny Sanders getting 181 votes. Melissa Cavazos, who also was on the ballot, received 126 votes.
•Incumbent District 8 State Board of Education member Audrey Young barely retains her seat, with 8,003 votes in San Jacinto, part of her district-wide total of 295,146. Challenger Dana Van De Walker had 2,279 votes in San Jacinto, part of her district-wide total of 291,633.
•While Ken Paxton outpaced James Talarico in Trinity County in the race for the U.S. Senate spot 4,336 to 1,271, statewide he lost the race, gaining 4,228,924 votes to Talarico’s 5,410,057.
The other candidate receiving votes in Trinity County was Ted Brown with 147 (188,815). Others receiving votes in the race were Avery Ayers with 1,872, Bradford Hall with 1,239, Zul Mohamed with 175 and Jade Simmons with 1,683.
