Hicks declares victory in DA race

County voters sway toward Republican Party in state races
By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Once again, troubles plagued the Caldwell County Tax Office on Tuesday evening as elections officials struggled to tally election results.
According to Tax Assessor-Collector Mary Vicky Gonzales, a combination of problems with printers and ballot scanners de

layed results to the extent that final numbers were not available until 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
“We were prepared to have trouble with the electronic ballots again,” she said, noting headaches caused by the electronic machines last year. “This time, the scanner wasn”t reading ballots, and we had to count many of them by hand.”
In addition, a printer malfunction added additional delays. Perhaps fortunately, Caldwell County voters were waiting for results in only two contested local races: Caldwell County District Attorney and Caldwell County Commissioner for Precinct Two.
In his second attempt at election to the Caldwell County District Attorney”s Office, Democratic hopeful Reagan “Trey” Hicks claimed a victory after election results were posted on Wednesday morning.
morning.
Hicks, a career prosecutor and former Caldwell County Assistant District Attorney, defeated incumbent Republican Chris Schneider by 809 votes to earn his seat. Of the 7,623 voters interested in the race, 55.31 percent (4,216 voters) preferred the new era offered by Hicks. Schneider”s supporters totaled 3,407.
The only other contested race in Caldwell County was for Precinct Two County Commissioner. Incumbent Democrat Charles Bullock won the race with 1,018 votes against Republican Milton Shaw”s 989. Election day voters were instrumental in the victory for Bullock, who led by only two votes (468-470) when early voting returns were posted.
In the race for District 45 State Representative, Caldwell County voters expressed much the same opinion as did the voters in Hays and Comal County, handing a sound victory to incumbent Democrat Patrick Rose. Rose won 4,988 Caldwell County votes (65.53 percent). Overall, he earned 60.13 percent of his district”s votes. Republican challenger Jim Neuhaus received 2.340 Caldwell County votes, while Libertarian hopeful Tom Gleinser earned only 284.
In the hotly contested race for governor, Caldwell County lent slightly less support (32.15 percent of votes) to incumbent Governor Rick Perry than did the rest of the state (39.03 percent), and slightly more to independent candidates Carole Keeton Strayhorn (1,520 votes) and Richard “Kinky” Friedman (1,206 votes).