MARCH PRIMARIES TO FEATURE MULTIPLE CONTESTED RACES
Several races will appear on the ballots of Washington County voters in the spring.
Monday was the deadline to file as a candidate in the March 5th primary elections, and in the county, the Republican ticket will have multiple candidates for sheriff, district attorney, commissioner of Precincts 1 and 3, and Precinct 3 constable. The race for District 12 state representative will also be a contested one, as will be the federal congressional seat for District 10.
For sheriff, Trey Holleway and David Blakey are running for the position held by Otto Hanak, who is not pursuing another term.
Similarly, Julie Renken is not seeking re-election as district attorney, a role now sought by Derek Estep and Dave Bunger.
For the commissioners races, both Precinct 1 and 3 incumbents Don Koester and Kirk Hanath are vying for re-election. They will be challenged respectively by Misti Hartstack Corn and Billy Ruemke.
Brad Kuecker and Damon Wegner are seeking the Precinct 3 constable position that formerly belonged to Blakey, who stepped down upon announcing his candidacy for sheriff.
Uncontested county officeholders include Renee Mueller, county attorney; Cheryl Tesch Gaskamp, tax assessor-collector; Ken Holle, Precinct 1 constable; Seth Klehm, Precinct 2 constable; and Greg Rolling, Precinct 4 constable.
No Democratic candidates filed for Washington County offices.
Also uncontested are the district judge positions for the 21st and 335th Judicial Districts, currently held by Carson Campbell and Reva Towslee Corbett. Towslee Corbett is not seeking office again, however, so John D. Winkelmann will be unopposed. Those positions, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s website, do not have Democratic candidates.
For District 12 state representative, listed as qualified candidates on the Secretary of State website are John Harvey Slocum and Trey Wharton, who are running for the post held by Kyle Kacal, who will not seek another term. Ben Bius has also declared his candidacy but does not yet appear on the website as of this (Wednesday) morning. Update 12/14: Ben Bius now appears as a candidate on the Secretary of State's website.
The winner of the Republican nomination will go on to face Dee Howard Mullins, who is unopposed on the Democratic ballot.
In U.S. Congressional District 10, Republican incumbent Michael McCaul will face Jared Lovelace. The winner of that race will go up against either Theresa Boisseau or Keith McPhail on the Democratic side.
Around the region, both the District 17 and District 85 state representative races will be contested. District 17 incumbent Stan Gerdes will face off against Tom Glass in the Republican primary, and whoever wins will face Democrat Desiree Venable. District 85 incumbent Stan Kitzman will go up against Tim Greeson on the Republican ticket, with no Democratic opposition come November.
The last day to register to vote in the primaries will be Monday, February 5th. Early voting will run from Tuesday, February 20th to Friday, March 1st.