Matias, Mills advance to Precinct 1 commissioner runoff

The race for Gonzales County Precinct 1 Commissioner will go to a May 28 runoff between the top two finishers in the Super Tuesday March 5 Republican primary — Anton “Tony” Matias and Ryan Mills.

In complete but unofficial returns, Matias received a total of 509 votes (374 early voting, 118 election day and 17 absentee) while Mills received 499 votes (347 early voting, 137 election day and 15 absentee). The third candidate in the race, David Janota, received 58 total votes (31 early voting, 21 election day and six absentee).

However, neither Matias nor Mills could cross the threshhold of 50.01 percent, or one vote over 50 percent of the total votes cast, which means they will now face each other a second time in a Tuesday, May 28 runoff.

The winner of that runoff will essentially be elected the incoming Precinct 1 commissioner as there is no Democrat candidate in the November general election and he would assume office on Jan. 1, 2025, succeeding incumbent Precinct 1 Commissioner K.O. “Dell” Whiddon, who did not seek re-election.

“I am pleased with the results from last night and how it turned out,” Matias said. “We do have a runoff with early voting on May 20-24 and election day on May 28. Your vote would be very appreciated so please come out and vote during early voting or on election day. I thank everyone for their support and God Bless.”

“I am thankful and grateful for those who came out to vote for me,” Mills said. “I thought the voter turnout was significantly lower than what I had expected. I do think I finished about where I thought where I would be, close to the 50 percent mark, but I expected another 500 or so voters in the race and I thought it might be split a little more evenly among the three candidates.

“I am very pleased with making the runoff and I think we all knew with three men running, there was likely going to be a runoff. This job is about more than just maintaining county roads as there is a lot that the commissioners do and control in the county. I am glad to have a chance to move forward and on to runoff.”

Early voting for the May 28 runoff will be May 20-24 with times and locations to be announced.