Democrats Select Hegar, Castañeda In July 14 Primary Runoffs

Just before 2 a.m. July 15, with all 3,178 polling locations reporting, Mary “MJ” Hegar and Chrysta Castañeda finished ahead of their opponents in the July 14 Democratic Party Primary Runoffs.

While more Hopkins County Democrats voted for Royce West for United States Senator (262-190), across the state more preferred Hegar. She finished with 498,180 votes to Royce West 457,555 votes, giving her the state win with 52.13 percent of the vote.

Hegar will face incumbent John Cornyn on the November election ballot. Cornyn defeated challengers Virgil Bierschwale, John Anthony Castro, Dwayne Stovall and Mark Yancey in the March Republican Primary for US Senator.

In runoff for Railroad Commissioner, 55.4 percent of Hopkins County voters selected Chrysta Castañeda and 44.76 percent voted for Roberto R. “Beto” Alonzo. Across the state, Castañeda received 575,460 votes (61.95 percent) to Alonzo’s 353,399 votes (38.05 percent), making her the winner. according to tallies posted at 2:45 a.m. July 15 by the Secretary of State’s Texas Elections Division.

The winner of the Democratic nomination for Railroad Commissioner will face Republican James “Jim” Wright on the ballot in November. Wright defeated incumbent Ryan Sitton in the March 3 Republican Primary.