Albers reelected, White wins county judge

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Four of the five Wood County incumbents facing opposition in the Republican primary Tuesday earned reelection while Lucy Hebron won’t receive a second term as county judge.

Kevin White, the former Mineola mayor who lost to Hebron four years ago for an open seat, out-polled Hebron 4,212 to 3,459 to effectively win the job, with no Democratic opponent in November.

District Attorney Angela Albers easily withstood a challenge from her former boss, Jim Wheeler, by a 5,196 to 2,448 count. Wheeler resigned in October 2018 and did not retake his seat after earning reelection that November. Albers was subsequently appointed to the post by the governor and then won the unexpired term in 2020.

Incumbent county commissioners Jerry Gaskill in Prec. 2 and Russell Acker in Prec. 4 had little trouble earning reelection.

Gaskill defeated Sten Langsjoen 1,649 to 238 while Acker took 979 votes to 571 for James Whitehurst.

The only other contested race locally saw Jerry Parker reelected Prec. 3 justice of the peace with 1,202 votes to 406 for former constable Gary Dixon.

At the state level Republican Cole Hefner was handily winning reelection as state representative for Wood County with 6,372 votes to 1,225 for Dewey Collier locally.

Louie Gohmert, who represented eastern Wood County in Congress until redistricting last fall, found local support in his run for attorney general but was polling fourth statewide in the four-way race.

Embattled AG Ken Paxton will face a runoff in May as George P. Bush was running in second. Paxton was polling 42% of the votes and Bush 21%.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Comptroller Glenn Hegar and Ag Commissioner Sid Miller easily won GOP nomination bids and will face the Democratic nominees in November.

Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian was just short of winning a majority with a runoff likely.

Beto O’Rourke easily took the Democratic nomination for governor while other state Democratic races appeared headed for runoffs.

Unopposed for county offices were County Clerk Kelley Robinson, County Treasurer Daphne Carter, District Clerk Suzy Wright and JPs Tony Gilbreath, Janae Holland and Jody Hettich. County chairmen Jana Castloo (GOP) and Judy Traylor were also unopposed.

Congressman Lance Gooden was unopposed in the GOP primary and will face Democrat Tartisha Hill in November.