County & Municipal Election Results
In a night of nail-biting elections, that saw Hays County go blue in statewide races, two Republicans appear to be keeping their seats and a third appears to be gaining one on the Hays County Commissioners Court.
With 35 out of 50 precincts reporting, at press time Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones was ahead of Democratic challenger Richard W. Cronshey by about 1,500 votes. Jones had 10,399, or 54.10 percent of the vote, at press time, to Cronshey’s 8,824 votes, or 45.9 percent.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell likewise was ahead of his challenger, Jimmy Alan Hall, but only by about 300 votes at press time. Shell had 9,643 votes, or 50.79 percent, while Hall had 9,343 votes, or 49.21 percent.
In the Precinct 4 race, Republican Walt Smith had 11,036 votes, or 51.43 percent, at press time, while Democrat Omar Baca had 9,835 votes, or 45.83 percent of the vote.
The race for county judge was another close one. At press time, with early voting and absentee ballots counted and 70 percent of Election Day votes tallied, Democrat Ruben Becerra led Republican Will Conley by less than 1,000 votes.
With 35 of 50 precincts reporting, Becerra had 36,338 votes, or 50.93 percent, to Conley’s 35,005, or 49.07 percent.
The close race comes amid record voter registration and voter turnout in Hays County. According to county figures, there are 135,852 registered voters in Hays County — a number that grew so quickly in the lead up to the election that it drew attention statewide. With 15 precincts still left to count, 71,343 Hays County residents cast ballots for county judge. By comparison, state figures show that just over 72,000 Hays County voters cast ballots in the presidential race in 2016.
For final county election results, visit the county's website.
City Races
Hughson had a lead over incumbent San Marcos Mayor John Thomaides from the start. When early and absentee ballots were counted, she was ahead, though by fewer than 1,000 votes. Hughson had 5,603 early and absentee votes, or 53.11 percent, to Thomaides’ 4,947 early and absentee votes, or 46.89 percent. Based on county figures, with 68 percent of the vote counted, Hughson’s lead stayed nearly steady with 53.21 percent of the vote (6,552 votes) to Thomaides’ 46.79 percent (5,762 votes).
With 13 of 19 precincts reporting, two of the three San Marcos City Council races appeared to be headed for a runoff last night.
The votes were still being counted at press time, but no candidate in the three-way Place 4 and Place 5 races had 50 percent of the vote. In the Place 4 race, Shane Scott had 4,579 votes (46.31 percent), while Mark Rockeymoore earned 3,121 votes (31.62 percent) and Griffin Spell received 2,171 votes (21.99 percent).
In the Place 5 race, Jocabed “Joca” Marquez had 4,721 votes, or 44.17 percent of the vote, while Rick Henderson had 3,578 votes, or 33.48 percent, and Mark Gleason had 2,389 votes, or 22.35 percent.
The Place 6 race, with only two contenders, was more clear cut as of press time, though the race was still tight. Incumbent Melissa Derrick led challenger Juan Miguel Arredondo by about 700 votes, with 5,790 (53.26 percent) to 5,081 (46.74 percent).
Early voting served as an indicator for the later results, with Scott, Marquez and Derrick leading in early and absentee vote totals as well.
According to county statistics, there are 40,351 registered voters in San Marcos.
For final city election results, visit the city's website. The results of the city elections – for the mayor’s seat and three spots on the city council – will be canvassed on Thursday, Nov. 15.
