HARRIS COUNTY – Republican candidates took a great deal of the county and national votes, but not enought to unseat several incumbent Democrats the vote tally has revealed. Few substantive changes resulted, even after 18 months of expensive campaigning, and most commentators were referring to the final results as a return of the “status quo.”
But in important Harris County offices, voters decided to return Democrats Adrian Garcia as Sheriff, and Ken Jones over David Cruzan as Pct. 3 Constable. Alan Rosen won as Pct. 1 Constable over Joe Danna. Vote percentages were Garcia 53% vs Guthrie 45.2%, Rosen 59% vs Danna 36%, and Jones 63% vs Cruzan 37%.
Jack Cagle was re-elected as Pct. 4 Commissioner and El Franco Lee as Commissioner in Pct. 1. In the race for County Attorney incumbent Vince Ryan was re-elected with 51.5%, vs Robert Talton with 48.5%. Mike Anderson won the race for District Attorney, with 52.4% of the vote for this county office over Lloyd Oliver. Mike Sullivan was elected as Tax Assessor-Collector with 48.9% of the vote. Ann Bennett had 48.7%%.
In the national race for president, Obama had 303 Electoral College votes at press time, vs 206 for Romney. Only 270 are needed to win as president. Florida was still counting its votes, and has 29 Electoral positions. Television networks declared Obama the winner at 10:15 Central Time, after the Ohio results were available. The irony was that Romney led in the popular vote most of the evening, and when this announcement was made. However, the final tally showed the popular vote was for Obama, 61 million vs. Romney 58 million.
In state of Texas races, Ted Cruz was elected Senator to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison, with 57% of the vote vs 40% for Paul Sadler. Ted Poe, Kevin Brady, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Gene Green were returned as Congressmen.
State Representatives Armando Walle, Senfronia Thompson, Sylvester Turner, and Dan Huberty, representing this area, were returned to the State Legislature.
Gallegos Senate seat will require Special Election
One irony in the State Senate race was that deceased candidate Mario Gallegos received 71% of the vote, over opponent R. W. Bray. This means that the governor will have to call a special election, before the next legislative session. Possible candidates, who have declared they are runnning for the seat, include Democrats former county commissioner Sylvia Garcia, State Representative Carol Alvarado, and Gallegos’ opponent in this election, Republican R. W. Bray.
Barry Smitherman was re-elected as chairman of the important railroad commission, the misnamed agency that controls oil and gas production in the state. Smitherman was originally from Highlands.
Mike Parrott ran unopposed for Justice of the Peace and was re-elected.
The City of Baytown had 19 amendments on the ballot, and all were passed except #2, which called for a salary increase for the mayor and councilmen.
All the Bond Issues passed, despite increased taxes
All the bond issues passed, which means Houston Community College, Houston ISD, and the City of Houston will have funds for new construction, and most likely will raise taxes to pay for them. METRO passed a proposition that will give 1/4 of its sales tax revenue back to local cities for mobility improvements, and keep the rest for buses and debt repayments.
School Board Election in North Forest
North Forest ISD had two seats on the school board on the ballot, but for Position 4 Thaddeus Seals was unopposed. In Position 5, Linda Bell Robinson won over incumbent Albert Coleman. Robinson had 51% of the vote, Coleman 33% and JoAnna Love Casey received 11.9%.
Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart stated that 1,188,734 citizens voted, out of a total of 1,942,566 registered, for a 61.19% turnout. This figure is considered high for a general election, indicating the great interest in national and local races.