By Anthony Collins, 

LPR Editor                           

    The 2026 Primary Election results are in.  The local ballot had current County Judge Hoppy Haden vying against former Judge Ken Schawe on the Republican Ballot. Haden  won with total vote count of 2122  over Schawe’s 1336. 

   Voters were also tasked with selecting their choice of County Treasurer. Gloria Garcia and Darla Law were on the ballot with Law winning with a vote of 2044 over 1295 for Garcia. 

    Several federal and state seats were up for election. Here is a breakdown of the results from the primary election in Caldwell County. These winners will move on to meet their opposing parties candidates except for Ken Paxton and John Cornyn in the Repulican race for State Senator who meet in a special run-off election at a later date. Other seats will have run offs as well as the final numbers are tallied. Below are the votes for Caldwell County results. 

FEDERAL-Democrat                             

•United States Senator

Democrat Party

James Talarico,  2292 

Jasmine Crockett, 1180

Ahmad R Hassan,  3

•United States 

Representative, District 27

Wayne Raasch, 255

Tanya Lloyd, 2409

“Stock” Castro-Mendoza, 612 

STATE-Democrat

•Governor

Chris Bell, 291

Angela “TiaAngis” Villescaz, 282 

Patricia Abrego, 123 

Carlton W. Hart, 50

Andrew White ,99 

Jose Navarro Balbueña, 80

Gina Hinojosa, 2252 

Bobby Cole, 171

Zach Vance, 7

•Lieutenant Governor 

Marcos Isaias Velez, 1234 

Vikki Goodwin, 1588 

Courtney Head, 377 

•Attorney General 

Joe Jaworski, 1188 

Anthony “Tony Box, 888 

Nathan Johnson,1040

•Comptroller of Public Accounts

Savant Moore, 428 

Sarah Eckhardt, 2365

Michael Lange, 362

•Commissioner of the General Land Office

Jose Loya, 1714

Benjamin Flores, 1375

•Commissioner of 

Agriculture 

Clayton Tucker, 2900

•Railroad Commissioner Jon Rosenthal, 2873•Chief Justice, Supreme Court 

Cory L. Carlyle, 17 

Maggie Ellis, 2421 

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2 

Chari Kelly, 2874

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 7 

Kristen Hawkins, 2432

Gordan Goodman, 639

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8 

Gisela D. Triana, 2952 

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 

Okey Anyiam, 2841

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 

Audra Riley, 2901

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9 

Holly Taylor, 2861

•Member, State Board of Education, District 5 

Abigail Gray, 560 

Allison Bush, 630

Kevin Jackson, 317 

Neto Longoria, 685 

Stephanie Limon Bazan, 761

Victor Sampson, 131

•Texas State Senate 

District 21 

Judith Zaffirini, 2472

Cortney Jones, 749

•Texas State Senate 

District 17 

Mary Elizabeth Klenz, 1802

Frank Gomez III, 1078

Robert Salter, 240 

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District 

Jerry Zimmerer, 2846 

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District Place 2, Tom Baker, 2828

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District Place 3 Marc M. Meyer, 2827

•Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District,  

Darlene Byrne, 2880

COUNTY-Democrat

•Criminal District Attorney Caldwell County,  Fred H. Weber, 2868

•County Judge, 

John G. Castillo, 2980

•County Clerk

Teresa Rodriguez, 3036

•Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 3, 

Anita DeLeon, 589

•County Commissioner Precinct No. 4,  

Dyral Thomas, 638

•Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, Yvette Mireles 658

Propositions on the Ballot included:

Proposition #1; Survey: Texas should expand Medicaid and ensure access to affordable healthcare for all,  yes 3416 to no 80

Proposition #2; Survey: Texans should support humane and dignified immigration policies and pathways to citizenship, yes 3389 to no 96

Proposition #3; Survey: Texans should have the right to make their own decision, including reproductive rights, yes 3389 to no 96

Proposition #4; Survey: Texas should address the state’s housing crisis in affordability and access in both urban and rural communities.,yes 3389 to no 89

Proposition #5; Survey: Texas should fund all public schools at the same per-pupil rate as the national average., yes 3389 to no 149

Proposition #6; Survey: Secure online voter registration should be accessible to all eligible Texas residents. , yes 3274 to no 181

Proposition #7; Survey; Texas should have a clean and healthy environment that includes water, air, and biodiversity. Texas must preserve the state’s natural, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources, yes 3455 to no 26

Proposition #8; Survey: Texas should legalize cannabis for adults, and automatically expunge criminal records for past low-level cannabis offenses, yes 2844 to no 600

Proposition #9; Survey: Texas should at least raise salaries to the national average and should provide a cost-of-living increase based on the national Consumer Price Index every two years to current/retired school and state employees. yes 3309 to no 137

Proposition #10; Survey: Texas should ban racially motivated redistricting, ban mid-decade redistricting, and create non-partisan redistricting board to redraw lines every 10 years. yes 3264 to no 164

Proposition #11; Survey: The Working Class should be eligible for greater federal income tax relief and have their tax burden fairly shifted onto the wealthiest, yes 3335 to no 100

Proposition #12; Survey: Texas should expand accessible public transportation opportunities in rural and urban communities so residents can get to their workplaces, schools, and healthcare, yes 3323 to no 125

Proposition #13; Survey: Texas should prevent individuals with a history of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms by implementing “red flag” laws, yes 3379 to no 100

FEDERAL– Republican

•United States Senator Gulrez “Gus” Khan, 29

John O. Adefope, 14 

Ken Paxton, 1427

Virgil John Bierschwale, 14

Wesley Hunt, 423

Anna Bender, 57 

Sara Canady, 33 

John Cornyn, 1530

•United States 

Representative, District 27; 

Michael Cloud, 2465

Chris Hatley, 636

STATE-Republican

Governor 

Charles Andrew Crouch , 39 

Nathaniel Welch, 12

Stephen Samuelson, 21 

Ronnie Tullos, 11 

Mark V. Goloby, 10 

Arturo Espinosa, 48 

Evelyn Brooks, 68

R.F. “Bob” Achgill, 8

Greg Abbott, 2929 

Kenneth Hyde,29 

Pete “Doc” Chambers,  366

•Lieutenant Governor

Esala Wueschner, 54 

Dan Patrick, 2733

Perla Munoz Hopkins, 279

Timothy Mabry,354

•Attorney General

Chip Roy, 1279

Aaron Reitz,353

Joan Huffman, 541

Mayes Middleton, 1146 

•Comptroller of Public Accounts

Christi Craddick, 952

Michael Berlanga, 138

Don Huffines, 1408

Kelly Hancock, 781 

•Commissioner of the General Land Office

Dawn Buckingham,  2724

•Commissioner of 

Agriculture

Sid Miller, 2007

Nate Sheets, 1188

•Railroad Commissioner Bo French, 433

Hawk Dunlap, 295

James (Jim) Matlock, 781

Jim Wright, 1179

Katherine Culbert,, 345 

•Chief Justice, Supreme Court

Jimmy Blacklock, 2742 

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2, Unexpired Term 

James P. Sullivan 2695 

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 7 

Kyle Hawkins, 2700

•Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8

Brett Busby, 2686

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 

Alison Fox, 648

Thomas Smith, 833 

Lesli Fitzpatrick, 718 

Brent Coffee, 581  

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 

Kevin Patrick Yeary, 2619

•Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9 

John Messinger, 2119

Jennifer Balido, 697

•Member, State Board of Education, District 5 

Mica Arellano,  2541 

•Texas State Senate District 21

Julie Dahlberg, 2587

•Texas State Senate 

District 17

Tom Glass,  1277

Stan Gerdes ,  2111

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District 

Scott Brister 2581

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District Place 2 Scott K. Field, 2576

•Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District Place 3 April Farris, 2567 

•Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District 

Cory Liu, 2529 

District Judge, 207th Judicial District

Tracie Wright Reneau, 2543 

COUNTY-Republican

•County Judge 

Ken Schawe, 1336

Hoppy Haden, 2122

•Judge, County Court at Law

Trey Hicks, 2831 

•District Clerk 

 Juanita Allen, 2702 

•County Treasurer 

Darla Law, 2044

Gloria Garcia, 1295 

•Justice of the Peace 

Precinct No. 1 

Matt Kiely, 953

•County Chair 

Luz Riley, 2650  

•County Commissioner Precinct No. 2 

Rusty Horne,  1148

•Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 2 

Shanna Conley, 1062

•County Commissioner Precinct No. 4

Rob Ortiz, 322 

Justice of the Peace 3

Alma Morales, 415

Proposition #1; Texas property taxes should be assessed at the purchase price and phased out entirely over the next six years through spending reductions, yes 3120 to 352 no  

Proposition #2; Texas should require any local government budget that raises property taxes to be approved by voters at a November general election, yes 3322 to 196 no

Proposition #3; Texas should prohibit denial of healthcare or any medical service based solely on the patient’s vaccination status, yes 2406 to 586 no

Proposition #4; Texas should require its public schools to teach that life begins at fertilization, yes 2893 to 352 no

Proposition #5; Texas should ban gender, sexuality, and reproductive clinics and services in K-12 schools, yes 3146 to 356 no 

Proposition #6; Texas should enact term limits on all elected officials, yes 3178 to 318 no

Proposition #7; Texas should ban the large-scale export or sale of our groundwater and surface water to any single private or public entity, yes 3299 to 184 no  

Proposition #8; The Texas Legislature should reduce the burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers by ending public services for illegal aliens, yes 3315 to 213 no 

Proposition #9; The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature should stop awarding leadership positions, including committee and subcommittee chairmanships and vice chairmanships, to Democrats, yes 2671 to 792 no 

Proposition #10; Texas should prohibit Sharia Law, yes 3206 to 222 no 

     According to the Caldwell County government website, voter turnout for Republican party was 3618 votes cast and for the Democrat party 3535 votes for the primary. 

     Caldwell County early voting and absentee totals show there are 27,212 registered voters in the county. Turnout for early came in as follows:

•Republican party tallied 2,267 total votes with 61 being absentee and 2,206 being early voting.

•Democrat party tallied very similar with 2,309 total votes with 119 being absentee and 2,190 being early voting.

    Watch for final tallies and run off election news in future issues of the Lockhart Post-Register.