Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb. 20, 2024 begins early voting in Terry County and across the state of Texas for the Democrat and Republican Primaries. These candidates will be on all precinct ballots in Terry County. Nationally, on the top of the list is the Presidential Primary which features Former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Right now, Trump leads in the Real Clear Politics Average of Polls vs Hailey 74.9% to 17.2%. David Stuckenberg, and Ryan L. Binkley will be on the ballot, both have not suspended their campaigns. Although these candidates did suspend their campaigns, they are still on the ballot. They are Ron DeSantis (suspended campaign) Chris Christie (suspended campaign), Asa Hutchinson (suspended campaign), Vivek Ramaswamy (suspended campaign) Also there will be an uncommitted section. On the Democrat Presidential Primary ballot, there are eight candidates, Current President Joe Biden (Joseph R. Biden Jr.), Armando “Mando” Perez-Serrato, Marianne Williamson, Star Locke, Gabriel A. Cornejo, Cenk Uygur, Dean Phillips, and Frankie Lozada.
For United States Senator in the Democrat Primary there are nine candidates, Mark Gonzalez, Meri Gomez, Colin Allred, A. “Robert” Hassan, Thierry Tchenko, Heli Rodriguez Prilliman, Steven J. Keough, Carl Oscar Sherman, and Roland Gutierrez. For the Republican Primary there are Incumbent Ted Cruz, , R E (Rufus) Lopez, and Holland “Redd” Gibson. For United States House District 19, which is held currently by Jodey Arrignton, the Democrat Primary will have no candidate’s. On the Republican side, there are four, Incumbent Jodey Arrington, Ryan Zink, Vance W. Boyd, and Chance Ferguson. These candidates will be on all precinct ballots in Terry County.
Texas State House Representative District 83 will be contested in the Republican Primary. Incumbent Dustin Burrows will face off with one of Terry County’s own Wade Cowan. There are no Democrat candidates for Dist. 83. For Texas Railroad Commissioner, there are five candidates and one is the Incumbent Christi Craddick. The other four are Christie Clark, Corey Howell, James “Jim” Matlock, and Petra Reyes. There are two Democrats on the Democratic ballot for Railroad Commissioner and they are Bill Burch and Katherine Culbert. Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2 has two Democrats on the ballot, they are DaSean Jones, and Randy Sarosdy. For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6, there are two Democrats on the ballot, they are Bonnie Lee Goldstein, and Joe Pool. For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4, there are two Republicans on the ballot who are, Brian Walker and John Devine. There are two Republicans for Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, who are Sharon Keller and David J. Schenck. For Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7, there are two Republicans, Barbara Parker Hervey and Gina Parker. Then there are two Republicans for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8, who are Michelle Slaughter and Lee Finley. These candidates will be on all precinct ballots in Terry County.
Next is the county primary elections. There are two contested primary elections for some Terry County voters. Terry County Precinct 1 Commissioner is up for grabs as the current commissioner Mike Swain is retiring at the end of 2024. Three candidates have filed in the Republican Party Primary for this seat. They are (in alphabetical order) Myron Bovkoon, JR Cudd, and Manuel Macias. There is no Democrat primary for this seat. If a candidate cannot receive 50% plus one vote, there will be a runoff for the top two who received the most votes. The other contested primary election is the Republican Party Primary for Terry County Precinct 3 Commissioner. Martin Lefevere, the incumbent is on the ballot and challenging him is Lance Richolson. There is a uncontested Democrat candidate on the Democrat Party Primary which is Shorty Martinez. In the 2022 election cycle, Martinez ran on the Democratic ticket for Terry County Precinct 4 Commissioner and lost to Republican incumbent Ernesto Elizardo.
There are several other uncontested races on both Democrat and Republican ballots. Early voting in Terry County will occur at the Terry County Joint Elections Office at the Terry County Annex, 507 A W. Main, in Brownfield. Early voting begins tomorrow Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 20 – Friday, Feb 24, 2024. On Saturday, Feb. 25 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., on Sunday, Feb. 12:00 p.m. (noon) to 6:00 p.m. Then the next week, Monday, Feb. 26 through Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Then from Thursday, Feb. 29 to Friday, March 1, 2024, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Primary Election Day, March 5, 2024.
