Approximately 67 percent of the county’s registered voters traveled to polling precincts in Tuesday’s general election in a day that was marked by flooding.
State Rep. Bennie Cook, R-Houston, claimed a victory over Democrat challenger Bernadette Holzer to retain his 143rd District state representative seat. The tally was a 16,288-2,739 final unofficial count. U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, defeated challengers Randi McCallian (D) and Jake Dawson (L) to retain his 8th District seat.
Amendment 3 – pertaining to abortion rights in the state – passed with 51.74% of voters in the state approving the measure. In Texas County, that number was 24.98%.
County Clerk Peggy Seyler said tabulations went smooth; the final counts were available just under two hours after polls closed Nov. 5.
“The week was busy and Tuesday was stressful, but my workers did great,” said Seyler.
STATEWIDE RACES
Winners of statewide races were: Mike Kehoe (R), governor; Dave Wasinger (R), lieutenant governor; Denny Hoskins (R), secretary of state; Vivek Malek (R), treasurer; and Andrew Bailey (R), attorney general.
OTHER MATTERS
Statewide results for ballot issues were as follows: Amendment 2 (sports betting), yes; Amendment 3 (abortion), yes; Amendment 5 (riverboat gambling), no; Amendment 6 (court fees for law enforcement), no; Amendment 7 (ranked choice voting), yes; and Proposition A (minimum wage), yes.
On the national level, Josh Hawley (R) retained his seat in the U.S. Senate and Donald J. Trump won the presidential election.
