The Candidates Awaken

If it feels like election season never ends around here, well, you’re right. 

This time last year Gonzales County had just wrapped a gubernatorial election and was embarking on two special elections to fill vacant seats in the state house and senate — one of which went into a runoff. Then it was time for city council elections, and the presidential candidates started agitating for your vote.

Get those yard signs back out. The candidates have returned, all set for another round of primary voting. 

Monday was the deadline for all candidates to hand in their paperwork to appear on the Texas ballot for the March 1 primary. Not counting the people running for president, Gonzales County should have a busy couple of months as these hopefuls — the majority being men from the Republican party — vie for your attention and your vote.

Starting at the bottom of the ballot — since that’s where the real grassroots politicking comes from — Gonzales County will see a couple of contested constable races. 

There will be a new face wearing the Constable’s badge in Precinct 1 with the retirement of incumbent Ken Hedrick. Two men have thrown their hat in the ring to be his replacement, Republicans Leslie R. Pirkle and Scott Rhodes.

Over in Precinct 3, incumbent Constable Derek Johnson has drawn two opponents for his spot. They are Curtis Hadnot and Mitchell Bennett, both Republicans.

Precinct 4 Constable John Moreno was the lucky one, since no opponent filed to run against him. Precinct 3 County Commissioner Kevin T. LaFleur is also unopposed.

County Commissioner Precinct 1 will be a duel, as incumbent K.O. (Dell)Whiddon will face Stephen O. Pirkle Jr. This is another race that will be decided on the Republican side of the ballot.

For Gonzales County Sheriff, three men have come forward to try and replace outgoing Sheriff Glen Sachtleben. They are Republican candidates Clay Allen, Matthew Atkinson and Floyd Toliver.   

The other two county offices up for election are Tax Assessor-Collector and County Attorney. Both current office holders — Crystal Cedillo and Paul Watkins — are unopposed in their contests.

If you’re keeping score, that’s a 14-0 record for the Republicans in the county, blanking the Democrats on all down-ballot races. 

Two candidates have filed to run for the 2nd 25th District Court to replace Judge W.C. “Bud” Kirkendall. They are Republicans Ruben James Reyes of Seguin and Jessica Richard Crawford of New Braunfels, one of the few women you will find on the ballot this side of Hillary Clinton. The 25th Judicial District Judge Bill Old will keep his spot, as he is unopposed.

The Democratic Party finally makes an appearance in the race for Justice, 13th Court of Appeals, Place 3 with Leticia Hinojosa of Edinburg and Carlos Valdez of Corpus Christi looking for their party’s nomination. Republican Greg Perkes of Corpus Christi will face one of them come November in the general election.

The contest for State Representative District 17 will be a rematch of February’s special election runoff with incumbent John Cyrier of Lockhart facing Brent Golemon of Bastrop. Both are Republicans. The Democrats declined to place a candidate in this five-county race.

Running unopposed for State Senator District 18 will be freshman incumbent Senator Lois Kolkhorst.

Place 6 on the Court of Criminal Appeals will have two Republicans meet in the primary, Michael E. Keasler of Austin and Richard Davis of Burnet. Robert Burns of Dallas is the lone Democratic candidate.

For Place 5 on the court of Criminal Appeals, four Republicans will make for a busy race. They are Scott Walker of Dallas, Steve Smith of Austin, Brent Webster of Austin and Sid Harle of San Antonio. Betsy Johnson of San Antonio is running as a Democrat.

Place 2 on the Court of Criminal Appeals has Republicans Chris Oldner of McKinney, Mary Lou Keel of Houston and Ray Wheless of McKinney and one Democrat, Lawrence “Larry” Meyers of Austin.

Supreme Court Justice Place 9 will feature Republicans Joe Pool of Dripping Springs, Eva Guzman of Austin and Democrat Savannah Robinson of Danbury.

Place 5 in the race for Supreme Court Justice gets interesting with two men of the same name facing off, one of them a some-time Gonzales visitor. Incumbent Justice Paul Green of Austin has drawn a challenge from Alcalde Hotel owner Rick Green of Dripping Springs. The Democratic challenger is Dori Contreras Garza of Edinburg.

Place 3 Supreme Court Justice has Republicans Debra Lehrmann of Austin and Michael Massengale of Houston. Democrat Mike Westergren of Corpus Christi rounds out the bill.

Railroad Commissioner has many candidates to replace its outgoing official. They are Republicans Doug Jeffrey of Mt. Vernon, Lance N. Christian of Austin, Wayne Christian of Center, Weston Martinez of San Antonio, David Porter of Austin, Gary Gates of Rosenburg, John Greytok of Austin and Ron Hale of Cypress. One of them will meet one of three Democrats: Cody Garrett of Austin, Grady Yarbrough of Flint and Lon Burnham of Ft. Worth.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela of District 34, which grazes the southern part of the county, is unopposed in his party primary. Two Republicans have chosen to run, Rey Gonzalez Jr. of San Benito and William “Willie” Vaden of Ingleside.

Republican U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold has drawn an opponent who looks to run to the right of him — if that’s possible — in Greg Deeb of Corpus Christi. Democrats Raul “Roy” Barrera of Corpus Christi, Ray Madrigal of Corpus Christi and Wayne Raasch of Lissie look to carry their party’s mantle in November.   

With all of the races with more than two candidates, a runoff for at least one of these contests is assured. 

As with Texas primary elections, a voter must choose to participate in either the Democratic of Republican primary and cannot cross over in a runoff. 

And even though voter ID must currently be shown at the polls in order to be handed a ballot, it has no bearing on whether you are selected for jury duty and no one will turn you in if you vote while under warrant for an offense. Convicted felons are also allowed to vote if they have met all parole requirements and have re-registered to vote.

Early voting runs Feb. 16-26 and Election Day is Tuesday, March 1. The last day to register to vote is Feb. 1. If you have moved since the last election, you must change your address on your voter registration card by calling the Gonzales County Voter Registrar’s Office at 830-672-2841.