TYLER COUNTY – The runoff election for the Republican Primary saw a record number of early voters, according to statewide tabulations.
Data from the Secretary of State’s office shows that 829,119 mail-in and in-person early votes were cast in the runoff for the early voting period last week, which is a notable increase over the GOP primary runoff in 2024, at 230%.
At the statewide level, the highly contentious battle over the U.S. Senate nomination, which pit incumbent John Cornyn against Attorney General Ken Paxton, was likely the reason for the enhanced turnout. In the march primary, Cornyn received fewer than 20,000 more votes than Paxton, but neither achieved the needed 50% plus one to snatch the nomination.
By 8 p.m. the Associated Press called the race for Paxton with 63.8% of the votes to Cornyn’s 36.2%. Paxton will face Democrat James Talarico and Libertarian candidate Ted Brown in November for the general election.
Cornyn’s defeat caps a 40-year career as an elected official. In his concession speech, Cornyn pledged to support “the Republican ticket,” and quoted Teddy Roosevelt. “It’s not the critic that counts…The credit belongs to the man who’s actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and blood and sweat,” he said.
The one county election that went to a runoff was in the race for Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace, with Henry E. Sawyer, Jr. facing Jim Zachary. Sawyer won the race with 395 votes to Zachary’s 192, and there is no Democratic opponent for the November general election. Sawyer will presumably succeed long-serving Judge Jim Moore.
In another statewide race that drew a lot of attention, for that of AG, congressmen Mayes Middleton and Chip Roy faced off, with the race called for Middleton, who earned 55.2% of the vote against Roy’s 44.8%. Middleton will, in November, face Democrat Nathan Johnson, who got 60.5% of the vote in his runoff against Joe Jaworski, with 39.5%.
In the race for the state’s railroad commissioners, Bo French won the GOP nod with 50.6% of the vote over Jim Wright’s 49.4%.
The Democratic ticket for Lieutenant Governor also saw a runoff with Vikki Goodwin winning over Marcos Velez in a decisive victory with 67.8% of the vote over Velez’s 32.3%. Goodwin will take on incumbent Republican Dan Patrick come November.
The Democratic runoff for the State School Board of Education, District 7 seat saw Tiffany Perkinz win with 50.7% of the vote over Debra Drake Ambroise, with 49.3%. Perkinz, a Beaumont educator, will face incumbent Julie Pickren in November.
