John V. Garoni won the March 3 Republican Primary for Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace while Carl Smith and Brenda Lopez will advance to the May 26 runoff election for the nomination as Precinct 2 County Commissioner.
Garoni took 535 votes or 57.59% compared to Nancy Hosek’s 394 or 42.41%. Smith took 262 votes or 41.59%, Lopez received 255 or 40.49% and a third candidate, Ricky Nunez, took 113 votes or 17.94%, forcing the runoff as no candidate made it to the 50% mark.
There were only two contested county races in DeWitt County. There were no county candidates running for office in the Democratic Primary, except for County Chair Joesph L. Sheppard, who was unopposed. There were seven Republican candidates in the county running uncontested on the ballot.
Other contested races of special interest to DeWitt County voters included the U.S. Senate. Incumbent John Cornyn and former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will vie for the Republican nomination in the May 26 runoff after besting five other candidates. Cornyn took 41.9% of the vote while Paxton received 40.7%. In DeWitt County voters slightly favored Paxton over Cornyn, 1,072 to 1,019 votes.
James Talarico won the Democratic nomination over two other candidates that included U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, avoiding a runoff. Talarico took 53%, compared to Crockett’s 43%. But in DeWitt County voters preferred Crockett over Talarico, 298 to 259.
For State District Representative District 30, Crystal Sedillo won the Democratic Party nomination over David Steves, 216 or 66 to 187 or 37%. She will face Republican incumbent A.J. Louderback in the general election in November.
DeWitt County’s Election Office reported that 3,009 of registered voters or 26.25 percent voted in the March 3 Primaries.
Voter turnout across the state was heavy with about 4.5 million of the state’s 18.7 million registered voters or 24% participating. Political observers attributed much of the increased voter turnout to the high profile U.S. Senate campaigns and Democratic Party officials’ hopes of making a comeback in Texas by winning a statewide race.
The General Election is Nov. 3.
