NEW MAYORS, SHERIFFS, COMMISSIONERS AMONG LEADERSHIP CHANGES IN AREA GOVERNMENTS FOLLOWING ELECTION

  

Area governments saw a shake-up as a result of Tuesday night’s general election.

New leadership will take hold in cities and counties across the region, from new mayors in Hempstead, Prairie View, Round Top and Sealy; to new sheriffs in Brazos and Waller Counties; to new commissioners in Brazos, Lee, and Waller Counties.

In Austin County, Ronnie Griffin was selected as one of three write-in candidates for Precinct Three Constable, receiving 677 votes over Tobey Baggerly’s 372 and Robert Campbell’s 246.  There were 421 uncertified write-in votes.  As no candidate received 50 percent of the vote, a run-off election between Griffin and Baggerly is expected.

For Bellville ISD, Sarah Buenger won her race against Wade McGhee 3,737-2,437 for a spot on the school board.  Buenger will replace Dusty Yantis, who did not seek re-election.

For Sealy’s mayoral race, former Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski defeated former Sealy mayor Nick Tirey with 1,462 to 796 votes.  Bilski will replace previous mayor Janice Whitehead, who resigned earlier this year.

In Sealy ISD, board incumbent Jay Aguado defeated challenger Ralph Bond with 3,359 votes to Bond’s 1,987.

Moving to Brazos County, Republican Wayne Dicky received 48,606 votes en route to a victory to become the county’s next sheriff, succeeding the outgoing Chris Kirk.  Democrat Patrick Logan received 27,769 votes, while Libertarian Clyde Garland received 3,808.

Replacing retiring Brazos County Attorney Rod Anderson will be Republican Earl Gray, who received 49,434 votes to Democrat Freddie Medina’s 30,744.

Republican Russ Ford will fill the unexpired term of former Brazos County Commissioner of Precinct Two Sammy Catalena, who passed away earlier this year.  Ford received 16,349 votes, while Democrat Jane Sherman received 7,992.

On the Bryan City Council, Bobby Gutierrez and Flynn Adcock will fill the respective seats of Greg Owens and Mike Southerland, who are stepping down after serving for two terms.  Gutierrez received 5,587 votes in his contest against Jonna Schreiber, who tallied 1,730.  Meanwhile, Adcock received 3,694 votes to Doris Machinski’s 2,050.

For the College Station City Council, Elizabeth Cunha will fill the unexpired term of Elianor Vessali, who resigned ahead of her run for the U.S. Congressional District 17 seat.  Cunha received 18,547 votes to Joe Guerra Jr.’s 13,490.  Incumbent Linda Harvell defeated Dell Seiter 18,334-12,372.  Meanwhile, five votes ended up being the difference in the race between incumbent Bob Brick and Jason Cornelius: Brick received 15,395 votes to Cornelius' 15,390. The race between incumbent John Nichols and challengers Craig Regan and Brian Alg looks to be headed for a runoff, as no candidate won 50 percent of the vote.  Nichols received 12,966 votes to Regan’s 10,618 and Alg’s 4,795.

In Burleson County, Norris McManus was re-elected as mayor of Caldwell, defeating challenger Mike Valigura 768-503.

On the Caldwell City Council, newcomer Janice Easter and incumbent Jim Wilde were named the winners out of five candidates, receiving 572 and 457 votes to Jessie Enrique Jr.’s 395, Jonnie Vic Barnett’s 327, and Jason Rhodes’ 233.

Caldwell ISD saw incumbents William Foster and Pam Evans win re-election with 2,164 and 2,136 votes.  Challenger Eric Boniol received 1,206 votes.

On the Somerville City Council, new candidate Amanda Flencher, incumbent Jeff Schoppe, and Deonna Moses won their race; Flencher received 277 votes, Schoppe received 243, and Moses received 198.  Also receiving votes were Lucinda Murphy at 126, Erik Kline at 91, Kay Cooper Moravec at 85, Carol Freeman at 45, Fred Elliott at 32, Shelley Gotte at 24, and Barbara Debolt at 10.

For a pair of seats on the Somerville School Board, newcomers Kim Casanova and Keith Howe were victorious with 590 and 535 votes, respectively.  Also running were David Idlebird with 498 votes, Marcus Douglas with 322, and Kevin Hoelscher with 255.

In Fayette County, a new mayor has been named in Round Top: challenger Mark Monroe Massey received 54 votes to incumbent Barry Bone’s 36.

Flatonia Mayor Bryan Milson won re-election against challenger James Longmire 348-152.

Two seats on the Flatonia City Council will be filled by newcomer Allen Kocian with 228 votes and incumbent Mark Eversole with 202.  Incumbent Donna Cockrell received 201 votes, while challenger Pamela Stolarski received 145.

In Grimes County, Republican Jim-Bob Trant, who was chosen in August to fill the position left vacant after the passing of former county treasurer Janice Trant, won election to the position.  Trant received 9,329 votes to Democrat Tara Gamble’s 2,661.

The Navasota City Council had two contested races, and one new face will come to the council.  Incumbent B.F. “Bernie” Gessner Jr. won re-election with 1,067 votes to challenger Randy Peters’ 783, while newcomer Patti Pederson received 979 votes to incumbent Geoff Horn’s 818.

In Lee County, Republican Mark Matthijetz has been voted the new Commissioner of Precinct One, receiving 817 votes to Democratic incumbent Maurice Pitts Jr.’s 765.

Giddings Mayor John Dowell received 912 votes, winning re-election after defeating challenger Ramzi Awad, who received 625.

In Waller County, Republican Troy Guidry will fill the position of the late Sheriff R. Glenn Smith, winning with 13,005 votes to Democrat Cedric D. Watson’s 6,920.

In a pair of Waller County Commissioners races, Precinct One Republican incumbent John Amsler received 2,811 votes to Democrat Mildred Jefferson’s 1,499.  In Precinct Three, Democrat challenger Kendric Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jeron Barnett 2,649-2,051.

Democratic incumbent Herschel Smith won re-election as Precinct Three Constable of Waller County, winning with 2,651 votes to Republican Marvin Hood’s 2,041.

In Hempstead, Dave Shelburne will become the new mayor after defeating incumbent Michael Wolfe, Sr. 955-803.

The Hempstead City Council will see just one incumbent return out of the three council races; Katherine Ragston won re-election against Sherion Grant with 985 votes to Grant’s 667.  Meanwhile, Erica Gillum defeated incumbent Patricia Chernosky 950 to 745, while Raul Villareal won against incumbent Fred Thomas III 930 to 796.

In Prairie View, Brian Rowland will fill the seat of outgoing mayor David Allen.  Rowland received 1,345 votes to Johnie Walker’s 642 and James Larry’s 154.

On the Prairie View City Council, Nathan Alexander III was chosen to fill the unexpired term of Kendric Jones, defeating Paulette Matthews-Barnett 1,247-810.  Also on the council, incumbent Wendy Williams won with 1,313 votes compared to challenger Waymond Lydell Perry’s 637, while incumbent Xante’ Isaiah Wallace won re-election with 1,695 votes to challenger James Williams’ 465.