Changes in county’s electorate revealed
All eyes were on Texas for the Nov. 6 midterm election, thanks to the muchhyped Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Cruz held on to his seat by a slim margin, winning about 51 percent of the vote to O’Rourke’s 48 percent.
The high-profile race energized voters, who registered and turned out in record numbers. Voter turnout for the midterm election was on par with turnout for the 2016 presidential election. The numbers were so great that on the Texas State University campus, students faced long lines at the sole on-campus early voting location during the few days early voting was offered on campus. The Texas Civil Rights Project made demands on behalf of two Texas State students, MOVE Texas Action Fund and the League of Women Voters of Hays County to reopen the campus early voting location and add an Election Day voting site on campus in order to avoid a lawsuit.
Down ballot from the Cruz-O’Rourke race, there were some upsets. Democrat Erin Zwiener beat her Republican opponent, Ken Strange, in the race for the District 45 seat in the Texas House of Representatives. Even in the races where Republicans prevailed overall, Hays County favored Democratic candidates. Hays County voters favored Democrat Joseph Kopser over Republican Chip Roy in the U.S. Representative District 21 race by about a 7 percent margin, though Roy ultimately defeated Kopser. In the State Senate District 25 race, about 2 percent more Hays County voters cast ballots for Democrat Steven Kling than for Republican incumbent Donna Campbell, but Campbell won her district overall. In the races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, more Hays County voters cast ballots for Democrats than for Republicans. In the races for state comptroller and General Land Office commissioner, Hays favored the Democrats by about a 6 percent margin, while an approximate 7 percent margin separated the candidates for agriculture commissioner and railroad commissioner.
In the attorney general’s race, Hays County favored Democrat Justin Nelson over Ken Paxton by about 12 percent. An exception is the race for U.S. Representative District 25, where Hays County voters favored the Republican candidate, Roger Williams, by about a 6 percent margin over Democratic candidate Julie Oliver.
At the county level, Democrat Ruben Becerra defeated Republican Will Conley in the Hays County judge race, receiving 39,904 votes (51.71 percent) to Conley’s 37,267 (48.29 percent). Democratic challenger Elaine Hanson Cardenas defeated incumbent County Clerk Liz Q. Gonzalez by about 5,000 votes — 40,607 (53.28 percent) to 35,602 (46.72 percent).
However, Republicans have maintained control of the commissioners court; Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones fended off his Democrat challenger, Republican Walt Smith defeated Democrat Omar Baca in the Precinct 4 commissioner race, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell barely defeated Democrat challenger Jimmy Alan Hall, who has filed a lawsuit to demand a recount.
On the municipal level, former Place 4 council member Jane Hughson defeated incumbent John Thomaides in the mayoral race. After a runoff election, Mark Rockeymoore won the race for Hughson’s unexpired term on council. Former Place 5 council member Scott Gregson opted not to run for re-election; a runoff election put Jocabed “Joca” Marquez in the Place 5 seat. Council member Melissa Derrick fended off challenger Juan Miguel Arredondo to keep her Place 6 seat on the council. For the first time in city history, the council is female-majority and is the most racially diverse council San Marcos has ever had.
rblackburn@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @arobingoestweet
