Pct. 4 commissioner runoff, statewide races decided

The race for Hill County Precinct 4 commissioner ended Tuesday, May 26, with Allan Awtrey defeating David Gelsthorpe in the Republican primary runoff.

Awtrey won about 73% of the Precinct 4 vote and will have a clear path to taking office next year with no Democratic challenger in November. He will replace Commissioner Martin Lake, who lost his bid for reelection in the March primary.

In statewide primary runoffs, Hill County Republicans favored Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn as their US Senate candidate, with Paxton receiving 64% of the local Republican vote. Paxton also won statewide and will face Democrat James Talarico in November’s general election.

Republican attorney general candidate Mayes Middleton won Hill County with 53% of the vote and also won statewide. He will go on to face Democrat Nathan Johnson, who also won his runoff election and received about 54% of the local Democratic vote.

The Republican runoff between Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright and challenger Bo French was too close to call on election night, but French was the projected winner by the next morning with just over 50% of the vote. Locally, Wright was the favorite with about 52% of the vote. The Republican candidate will go on to face Democrat Jon Rosenthal in November.

Texas Democrats selected Vikki Goodwin as their lieutenant governor candidate over Marcos Velez. Goodwin received 70% of the Democratic vote in Hill County and will be on the ballot against incumbent Dan Patrick in the general election.

Casey Shepard was the district-wide winner of the Democratic runoff for the US Representative, District 17 seat. Shepard received 54% of the Hill County vote and will face incumbent Pete Sessions in November.

Republican Thomas Smith was the projected statewide winner in the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3 runoff. He received 56% of the local vote over Alison Fox and will face Democrat Okey Anyiam in November.

About 13% of Hill County’s registered voters cast ballots in the runoff election. All results are unofficial until canvassed.