Gonzales County voters choose primary runoff winners

Gonzales County voters cast their ballots in the May 24 Republican primary runoff for the incumbent in two high-profile races, while selecting the candidate with more name recognition in a third.

Voters chose incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton over his challenger, current Land Commissioner George P. Bush, by a 649-197 margin, or 76.71 percent to 23.29 percent. Paxton had a 277-102 lead in early voting. Bush did not seek re-election to his current office.

They also selected incumbent Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian over upstart challenger Sarah Stogner, 458-363, or 55.79 percent to 44.21 percent. Christian had lead of 223-146 in early voting.

The Land Commissioner race saw Gonzales County residents vote for current state Sen. Dawn Buckingham over Tim Westley, 575-239, or 70.64 percent to 29.36 percent. Buckingham had a 257-107 lead after early voting.

All three of Gonzales County’s favorites on the GOP side appeared to be headed to victory Tuesday night statewide.

Democrats

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, voters narrowly selected candidates in all four races. In the Leutenant Governor race, Democrats chose Michelle Beckley over Mike Collier, 49-48. The vote was tied during early voting, 30-30. Collier had a 55 percent to 45 percent lead over Beckley statewide late Tuesday.

In the Attorney General race, Rochelle Mercedes Garza outgained Joe Jaworski, 54-43. Jaworski actually had a 31-29 lead during early voting, but Garza received 12 more votes on election day. Garza was also leading Jaworski by 62 percent to 38 percent statewide.

In the Comptroller race, Janet T. Dudding was the choice over Angel Luis Vega, 49-47. Dudding had a 35-24 lead in early voting that got significantly narrower on election day. Dudding had a 60 percent to 40 percent lead statewide.

Finally, in the Land Commissioner race, Jay Kleberg was favored over Sandragrace Martinez, 50-45. Kleberg also had a 35-24 lead in early voting that was whittled down on election day. Kleberg had a 52 percent to 48 percent lead statewide.

Of 12,802 registered voters in Gonzales County, only 951 cast ballots in the primary runoffs, of which 853 (89.7 percent of ballots cast) were Republican and 98 (10.3 percent) were Democrat.