Local Results

Incumbents carried the day in Wood County primary elections Tuesday, March 3.

District Attorney Angela Albers, first appointed in 2018 and reelected in 2020 and 2022, won the primary with 5,001 votes to challenger Sarah Bailey King’s 4,006.

She has no Democratic opposition in the November general election.

The Democrats fielded candidates for the two county commissioner seats.

Jerry Gaskill, son of outgoing commissioner Jerry Gaskill, was unopposed in the primary and will face Democrat Carlist Brinkley in November, who was also unopposed.

Prec. 4 Commissioner Russell Acker won the primary with 1,174 votes to 676 for Jon Shirley and will face Democrat Passionique Taylor in November.

Matthew Prather will be the new county treasurer after winning 4,571 votes to 3,940 for Kari Perkins. Treasurer Daphne Carter did not seek reelection.

For the unexpired term of Prec. 2 constable, appointee Jeremy Ragsdale just edged Scott Melvin 1,126 to 1,108.

Prec. 2 Justice of the Peace Janae Holland won another term handily, with 1,634 votes to 660 for Dusty Cook.

In a three-way race, Prec. 3 Justice of the Peace Jerry Parker took just over 50% of the votes to avoid a runoff. He polled 999 votes to 613 for Tyler Turrentine and 364 for Lee Whisenhunt.

County officials who faced no opposition included County Judge Kevin White, County Clerk Kelley Price, District Clerk Suzy Wright and Justices of the Peace Jody Hettich in Prec. 4 and Tony Gilbreath in Prec. 1.

County party chairs Republican Kathy Wakeman and Democrat Kelly Wishart were unopposed for reelection.

The county elections office reported 11,255 ballots were cast, or 31.6% of the county’s registered voters.

State Results

Voters will return to the polls to settle several races in the party primaries, but none locally.

All the incumbents in Wood County survived primary challenges on March 3 (see related story).

Only two local races will go to the general election in November, for the two county commissioner seats for Precincts Two and Four.

The most local interest will be for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in District 32.

Jace Yarbrough led a field of nine candidates for the Republican nomination, and he almost earned it without a runoff, finishing with just under 49% of the votes across the eight-county district.

He will face Ryan Binkley in the runoff, and the winner will take on Democrat Dan Barrios in November. He earned 60% of the 43,894 Democratic primary votes

Yarbrough earned the most votes in every county.

He polled 4,067 votes in Wood County and 33,812 across the district to Binkley’s 2,272 in Wood County and 15,000 districtwide (21.7%). Paul Bondar was third with 13.9%.

Wood County was moved into District 32 during the redistricting approved by the state legislature last summer.

At the state level, the battle for the United States Senate between incumbent John Cornyn and outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton will continue.

Cornyn garnered 41.7% of the vote to Paxton’s 41%. Wood County favored Paxton 4,752-3,339.

The winner will face James Talarico, who narrowly won the Democratic primary over Jasmine Crockett. He polled 774 votes in Wood County to Crockett’s 700 and won statewide with 52.8% of the votes.

The race to replace Paxton as attorney general will go to a runoff between Republicans Mayes Middleton with 39.15% of the votes and Chip Roy with 31.76%.

The Democratic primary also goes to a runoff between Nathan Johnson and Joe Jaworski.

There will also be a Republican runoff for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission between Bo French and Jim Wright.

Two candidates who avoided runoffs were Kason Huddleston for the State Board of Education seat for District Nine, which includes Wood County. He received 58% of the vote. Rachel Hogue was second with 27%.

And Don Huffines captured 57.4% of the votes for state comptroller to avoid a runoff in the four-person race. Appointee Kelly Hancock received less than 24% of the vote. Sarah Eckhardt won the Democratic nomination without a runoff among three candidates

Nate Sheets unseated Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller by a 52.6-47.4% margin and will face Democrat Clayton Tucker in November. Wood County voters gave Miller 4,739 votes and Sheets 4,133.

Democrats will have a primary runoff for lieutenant governor between Vikki Goodwin and Marcos Isaias Velex.

Also on the Republican runoff ballot will be Place 3 on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

State Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola had no opposition in the primary and will face Democrat Laticia Ambroz in November.

State Rep. Cole Hefner easily defeated Deway Collier for District 5 by 22,408 to 6,898 and will face Democrat Hector in November. It was Collier’s third try to unseat Hefner. Hefner received 6,953 votes in Wood County and Collier 2,208.

All vote totals are unofficial until canvassed by county commissioners.