Primary election season is upon us again

As you can tell from the proliferation of signs, election season is upon us again. At the State level the Democrats are fielding more candidates than in recent years with various people vying to challenge Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz in November. Both Abbott and Cruz have opponents in the Republican Primary.

Our focus at Citizens for Better Government is primarily on local politics, on the basis that 'if we can't do a decent job of running Mount Pleasant and Titus County, we have no right to expect any better from Austin or Washington DC'. While the City is generally fairly well run, the same cannot be said for Titus County, so locally there are several important elections that you need to pay attention to.

Several long term local officials are retiring including both Justices of the Peace, the District Clerk and Precinct 2 Commissioner, Mike Fields.

First up please note that there are two incumbents County Treasurer, Cheryl Preddy and County Clerk, Joan Newman who have no opponents either in March or November and so will be automatically reelected.

In the Democrat Primary there is only one local contested race, that for Precinct 2 Commissioner.

There are three important local races where, due to the lack of Democrat candidates, the outcome will be decided in March in the Republican Primary and not in November. These races are:

County Judge: incumbent Brian Lee is being challenged by successful, local business woman Denise Reichert. The winner of this Primary will be our next County Judge.

County Commissioner Precinct 4: first term incumbent Jimmy Parker is being challenged by another successful, local business woman Judy Kent. The winner of this Primary will be the next Precinct 4 Commissioner.

Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2: incumbent Paula Dyke is retiring. Hoping to replace her are Tim Blair and Irma Dunn. The winner of this Primary will be the next Precinct 2 JP.

There are also three local races where the winner of the Republican Primary will face a Democrat in the November General Election. These are:

District Clerk: incumbent Deborah Abston is retiring. Vying to replace her are Sharyn Cary, Esther Holliday and Marcus Carlock. The winner of this primary will face Democrat LaWyanda Miller in November.

County Commissioner Precinct 2: incumbent Democrat Mike Fields is retiring (many years too late in our opinion). Republicans hoping to replace him are Eddie Perritt and John Fitch. The winner of this primary will face either Raymond Johnson or Phillip Hoffman who face off in the Democrat primary.

Justice of the Peace, Precincts 1,3 & 4: incumbent Kay McNutt is retiring. Trying to replace her are Republicans Steve Agan and Woody Hughes. The winner of this primary will go against Democrat Tracy Craig in November.

We will be covering each of these contested local races in the next few weeks, before early voting states on Tuesday, February 20th.

The last day to register to vote in either Primary is Monday February 5th. To register go to the Election office across the road from the Mount Pleasant Post Office.

Thanks for the Citizens for Better Government for this.