TYLER COUNTY — Election Day is Tuesday, May 26 for the runoff election. The early voting period for it ends this Friday.
Several statewide races went to a runoff. May 26 is the day for the primary runoff election.
A candidate must take 50% of the vote, plus one, to avoid a runoff. In Tyler County, there is a runoff in the Republican primary, with the Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace race. Henry E. Sawyer, Jr. will face Jim Zachary in the runoff.
Back in March, Sawyer received 347 votes to Zachary’s 270, while a third challenger, Thomas Fowler, got 259 votes.
In statewide races, Senator John Cornyn is seeking a fifth term and is in a runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton for the GOP nomination in a heated contest. The winner of this runoff will face Democrat James Talarico in November.
Two Republican AG hopefuls are in the runoff for Paxton’s current office, and they are current U.S. congressmen Mayes Middleton and Chip Roy. On the Democrats’ side, Joe Jaworski is in a runoff against Nathan Johnson. The winners in both these elections will face each other in November.
Other offices in a runoff, statewide include: the Democrat nomination for Lieutenant Governor, with Vikki Goodwin and Marcos Velez facing off. The winner of this runoff will face Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in the General Election.
Republicans Bo French and incumbent Jim Wright are facing off for the GOP Railroad Commissioner nomination.
At the statewide level, nearly 4.5 million Texans voted in the Democratic and Republican primaries in March, which broke recent midterm primary turnout records, according to the nonpartisan voter education May Matters organization.
Runoffs, however, are important, but don’t get as much attention, according to May Matters co-founder Marjorie Clifton.
“These races help shape who represents our communities for years, but too many voters miss them because they don’t realize they are eligible, they don’t know what is on their ballot, or they simply never get a reminder. We exist to close that information gap with clear, nonpartisan guidance people can trust,” Clifton said.
Clifton pointed out that in the last midterm primary, in 2022, a little more than 3 million Texans voted in both party primaries, which meant then that more than 82% of registered voters did not participate. By the May runoff, only 1.4 million Texans voted.
Check your voter registration status at VoteTexas.gov.
