Published: November 05, 2008 03:07 pm      

Henderson, Freestone and Leon County voters elect sheriff, other officials

Henderson and Leon County voters elected new sheriffs Tuesday night, while Freestone County voters re-elected theirs.

Leon County voters overwhelmingly chose Jerry Wakefield over incumbent and former DPS officer Mike Price in Tuesday’s general election. Wakefield received 4,166 votes to Price’s 2,755.

In Henderson County, voters elected their first Republican sheriff, choosing former Texas Ranger Ray Nutt over Bill Casey, 17,792 votes to 10,445.

In Freestone County, incumbent Ralph Billings easily defeated Republican challenger Tommy Page, 4,342 votes to 2,828, to earn another term as sheriff.

Henderson County

Republicans did well across the board in Henderson County.

In the precinct 4 constable race, incumbent Republican Rick Stewart defeated Democratic challenger John Floyd, 1,384 votes to 1,200.

Precinct 3 incumbent commissioner Ronny Lawrence easily defeated Democratic challenger Hank Rogers, 4,858 votes to 2,523.

Henderson County voters overwhelmingly chose GOP candidates in national and statewide race, preferring Republican presidential candidate John McCain over Democratic candidate Barack Obama, 20,810 votes to 7,890; incumbent Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Dallas over Libertarian challenger Ken Ashby, 21,132 votes to 2,970; incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Dallas, over Democratic challenger and Texas National Guard veteran Rick Noreiga, 19,959 votes to 8,365; and five-term Republican state representative Betty Brown over Victor Morales, a Democratic challenger, by a margin of 18,236 votes to 9,392.

Also, Coffee City voters narrowly passed a liquor election with 48 votes for alcohol sales and 45 against. Liquor sales already are allowed in Coffee City.

Leon County

In the constable races on the ballot, precinct 1 incumbent Gerry Rossier lost his bid for re-election. Challenger Chris Johnson handily defeated Rossier, 1,796 votes to 1,125.

Precinct 2 incumbent constable George Holleman edged out challenger Jim Colpton, 979 votes to 956, to retain his position.

Incumbent precinct 4 constable Larry Watson was unopposed and received 1,501 votes in support.

In Hilltop Lakes, voters passed a proposition allowing beer and liquor sales, with 1,093 votes cast in favor of the alcohol sales and 686 against.

Several Leon County races featured unopposed candidates.

Incumbent district attorney Whitney Smith, incumbent county attorney Jim Witt, incumbent tax assessor Louise Wilson, incumbent precinct 1 commissioner Joey Sullivan, precinct 3 commissioner Mark Ivey and Watson all were elected without opposition.

On the national and statewide levels, McCain out-polled Obama with nearly 80 percent of the votes, winning Leon County with 5,563 votes to 1,415 cast for Obama. Cornyn also won the county with 5,248 votes to 1,440 for Noriega and incumbent Republican Joe Barton claimed 5,211 votes to Democratic challenger Ludwig Otto’s 1,283.

Democratic incumbent Jim Dunnam easily retained his District 57 state representative seat, turning back Republican challenger Neill Snider by 3,290 votes to 823 votes.

Freestone County

Like in Leon and Henderson counties, Republicans did well in the statewide and national races in Freestone County.

McCain handily won the county with 5,201 votes to Obama’s 2,032 in the presidential race, while Cornyn defeated Noriega with 4,805 votes to 2,170 and Barton carried U.S. House District 6 with 5,012 votes to Otto’s 1,916 votes. Republican Rex Davis defeated Democrat Richard Ferguson, 4,350 votes to 2.393 votes, in the race for place 2 justice on the 10th Court of Appeals, replacing Bill Vance.

However, on the local level, Democratic incumbents either retained seats unopposed or defeated Republican challengers.

In a contested race, incumbent Stanley Gregory defeated Republican challenger Kurt Kroop for precinct 3 commissioner, 1,103 votes to 670 votes. Also, incumbent Democratic precinct 3 constable L.B. Gamble Jr. handily out-polled write-in candidates, 1,171 votes to 176.

In uncontested races, Democratic candidate for 77th District Judge Patrick Simmons, Republican county judge candidate Chris Martin, incumbent Democratic tax assessor-collector Lisa Stephenson James, incumbent Republican precinct 1 commissioner Luke Ward Sr., incumbent Democratic precinct 1 constable J.B. “Buck” Bonner III, incumbent Democratic precinct 2 constable Lynn Clary, incumbent Democratic precinct 4 constable Ken Sessions all were elected.

Also, voters in Streetman approved Proposition 1 by a margin of 65 to 16. The measure allows the sale of alcohol at two stores which were recently annexed into the city limits.

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com