Parker County voters elect new county judge for first time in 20 years

Parker County will have a new county judge for the first time in 20 years.

County Judge Mark Riley, who was first elected in 1998, was easily defeated by Pat Deen, the mayor of Hudson Oaks, a small town outside of Weatherford.

In unofficial but final returns, Deen had 64 percent to Riley's 36 percent. No Democrat ran for county judge, clearing the way for Deen to replace Riley.

Another incumbent lost Tuesday night in the District 30 state senate race that stretches west and northwest of Fort Worth then all the way back to Frisco.

Incumbent Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, was defeated by former state representative Pat Fallon, R- Frisco. Fallon finished with 62 percent of the vote while Estes had 23 percent. A third candidate Craig Carter, had 15 percent.

Shipp trying to make runoff

Brett Shipp, who for years was a familiar face on WFAA-Channel 8, is trying to go from investigative reporter to Congressman.

In unofficial returns, Shipp missed the runoff, finishing in third third place in the crowded seven-candidate Democratic primary field for Texas 32nd Congressional seat. Lillian Salerno, a former deputy undersecretary in the Department of Agriculture, finished second with 18 percent of the vote while Shipp had 16 percent..

Colin Allred, a former Tennessee Titans linebacker who worked as General Counsel in HUD during the Obama Administration, had 40 percent.

"Now that our campaign has advanced to the run-off, we will continue to take our message directly to the voters and we will continue to listen to the North Texas families who are ready for change," Allred said. "After years of failed representation by Pete Sessions, this district is ready to send a new voice to Congress."

Sessions was leading challenger Paul Brown with nearly 80 percent of the vote in early returns in the GOP primary.

'We have had no complaints'

In Tarrant County, election officials said there were no major issues at polling places despite rumors to the contrary.

Election Protection, which bills itself as the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan voter protection coalition, sent an email to the news media claiming voters had reported not enough ballots at Chisholm Ridge Elementary School in Fort Worth.

But Karen Lawrence, acting chief deputy elections administrator, said no precincts reported running out of ballots.

"We have had no complaints period," Lawrence said.

Deborah Peoples, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, also said she hasn't had any issues.

"This is the third primary since I've been chair and this one has run the smoothest," Peoples said.

The elections office did receive one complaint of one voter who said they were voting Democrat and some bystanders said "Jesus will forgive you."

Lawrence said she visited the polling place at the Saginaw Senior Center and neither the Democratic nor Republican precinct judge witnessed anything and that no one was harassing voters when she arrived.

Bill Hanna: 817-390-7698, @fwhanna

This story was originally published March 6, 2018 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Parker County voters elect new county judge for first time in 20 years."