Last week’s mid-term elections changed the national landscape a bit, with the Democrats claiming a majority in the House, and the Republicans increasing their hold on the Senate.
Perhaps the most watched race of the evening for local voters, incumbent Republican Ted Cruz secured his U.S. Senate seat against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke.
The win was by a narrow margin, with Cruz taking 51.06 percent to O’Rourke’s 48.33 percent of the vote. Libertarian Neal M. Dikeman earned 0.59 percent of the vote in this race.
U.S. Representative Bill Flores (District 17) will also return to Washington to carry the Republican banner.
Freestone County voters assisted in this win as Flores earned 55.37 percent of the vote. Democratic candidate Rick Kennedy came away with 43.08 percent, Libertarian Peter Churchman with 1.53 percent.
In Texas, the reins of leadership remain in Republican hands, as each incumbent was re-elected, from the Governor to the Railroad Commissioner.
Some of those races were tight, with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick keeping his seat with 51.13 percent of the vote, Attorney General Ken Paxton with 50.52 percent, and Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller with 51.37 percent.
A majority was also maintained for State Republican Legislators.
However, two incumbent Republicans lost their Senate seat to Democratic opponents, and at least eleven Representative seats flipped to the Democratic Party.
House District 132 is still up in the air, as the Republican incumbent has been edged out by the Democratic candidate by only 49 votes. It has been reported that this Representative is waiting for mail-in ballots to be counted before making the decision to concede or ask for a recount.
Freestone County voters helped re-elect Republican Charles Schwertner to the Texas State Senate and elect Republican candidate Cody Harris to State House.
Senator Schwertner (District 5) won his seat with 54.30 percent of the vote. Democratic challenger Meg Walsh received 42.9 percent, and Libertarian Amy Lyons came away with 2.74 percent.
Harris became a new State Representative (District 8) by earning 78.54 percent of the vote. Democratic challenger Wesley Ratcliff received 21.4 percent.
Locally, ten positions were up for re-election, including all four Justices of the Peace, two County Commissioners, County Treasurer, County Clerk, District Clerk , and the County Judge.
The only contested race was for Justice of the Peace – Pct. 2 which pitted incumbent Republican Debra Hamilton against Democratic challenger Pamela Whitt. Hamilton kept her seat, earning 79.93 percent of the vote.
Also up for consideration by Freestone County voters was Proposition A for the purpose of “Changing Freestone County from Tier 1 county status to Tier 2 county status for purposes of municipal annexation as described by Chapter 43 of the Texas Local Government Code.”
County residents overwhelming voted “For” the proposition by 79.25 percent, casting a total of 4,632 votes in favor.
By approving this proposition, cities in Freestone County will be required to get approval from impacted residents before they could annex property into the city limits.
November 6, 2018 Unofficial Election Results for Freestone County may be found online at http://www.co.freestone.tx.us/page/freestone.Elections
For complete election results in the State of Texas, visit online at https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us
Election results are unofficial until Canvassing is completed, which must be conducted between November 9 and November 20, 2018.
