Election results

GOP Sweeps Cass County Races

By Bobby Horn Jr.

Special to the Journal

Mirroring the Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate, the Cass County GOP swept three contested county races Tuesday. Five other Republicans were uncontested in county races.

According to unofficial returns, Randal Lee will become the county’s next criminal district attorney after beating current Assistant D.A. Tina M. Richardson 4,590 to 2,363. Lee is a former Cass County DA.

Lee built up a commanding lead in early voting taking 1,623 votes to Richardson’s 896. On Election Day he more than doubled her with 2,967 votes to 1,467.

Jamie A. O’Rand (R) unseated Incumbent Jannis Mitchell 3,985 to 2,963 to become the next county clerk. Mitchell actually held a lead during the early voting period 1,276 to 1,257. However, on Election Day O’Rand outpaced Mitchell by more than 1,000 votes.

In the race for Commissioner of Precinct 2, Incumbent Democrat Danny Joe Shaddix lost to Jon M. Borseth by a 961-766 margin. Borseth held a 296 to 192 advantage after early voting. Precinct 2 covers the western part of the county including Douglassville, Hughes Springs and Marietta.

Republican Becky Wilbanks was uncontested in her race for county judge. With Wilbanks moving over from the district clerk’s office, Republican Jamie Albertson will assume the office having no November opponent. Precinct 4 Commissioner Darrell Godwin, a Republican, was reelected without opposition.

Donald Dowd will continue to serve as Judge of the County Court of Law while Donna Early received another term as county treasurer. Both are Republicans.

Three of the four Justice of the Peace precincts went to Democrats, who were unopposed. These are Barbara McMillan, Pct. 1; Gina Basham, Pct. 2 and Micki Henderson, Pct. 3. Bridget Smith is the lone Justice of the Peace who is a Republican.

The Republican sweep may be contributed to “straight party” voters. According to Cass County unofficial results 2,484 “straight party” Republican votes were cast, while 1,075 “straight party” votes to the Democratic Party.

Opponents of alcohol beverage sales in Queen City are celebrating after voters rejected a local option measure. The measure would have allowed the sale of all alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption.

In early voting the “no” votes held a 51-32 advantage. This trend continued on Election Day by a 138-124 margin. In total, 189 votes were cast against, while 156 came in “for” the measure.

Queen City voters were not the only ones expressing their opinion about alcohol sales. Texarkana, Texas voters approved a Beer/ Wine sales measure 3,059 to 2,759.

However, in Wake Village the majority of voters said no to a similar measure, 829 to 763.