TYLER COUNTY – The unofficial tallies for the March party primary elections are in for Tyler County, and county residents made their voices heard in a number of high-profile statewide elections, as well as local elections.
A total of 1,945 Tyler County voters cast early ballots during the early voting period. Of those, 1,711 voted in the Republican primary and 234 in the Democratic primary, according to unofficial totals. Eighty-six ballots were cast by mail.
Tyler County has 14,565 registered voters, meaning 13.3% participated during early voting. Historically, about 20% of voters take part in party primaries, according to iVoterGuide. Primary elections determine which candidates will appear on the November general election ballot.
In the race for Senate District 3 for the GOP primary, Trent Ashby handily won the Tyler County Republican vote, with 2,137 votes to Ward’s 1,206.
Ashby was declared the winner in the primary, and will go on to the November general election, where he will face Bobby Tillman, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
In the race for the District 9 House of Representatives seat, which Ashby currently occupies, Rocky Thigpen captured the Tyler County vote, with 2,371 votes to 620 from Paulette Carson and 78 from Stephanie Sjoberg. In the November general election, Thigpen will face Democrat Shelley Tatum.
Tyler Countians also heavily favored incumbent Congressman Brian Babin, but the results of the Democratic primary in that race have yet to be called for either Rhonda Hart or Doug Rogers.
Gov. Greg Abbott handily won his party’s primary, and he was favored by Tyler Countians, as well. Both he and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick captured more than 50% of the statewide vote, as the races had been called by the Associated Press on Tuesday night.
For the office of County Clerk, Janet Brown won the race with 2,069 votes to challenger Amanda McGallion Stephens’s 973.
Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Ken Jobe also won reelection with 456 votes to Rodney Smith’s 274. Neither Jobe nor Brown have any Democratic challengers for November.
For the JP Pct. 4 race, it will head to a May runoff, with Henry E. Sawyer, Jr. facing Jim Zachary. Sawyer got 347 votes to Zachary’s 270, and challenger Thomas Fowler received 259 votes.
