By Jeremy A. Corley
Managing Editor
Incumbents and runoffs ruled the day during Tuesday's primary elections.
Election Day for primary runoffs will be Tuesday, April 13. Early voting will be April 5-9.
Gov. Rick Perry easily held off challengers Debra Medina and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and avoided a runoff with a slight majority in the statewide vote, up from the 48.5 percent he garnered in Collin County.
He will face former Houston Mayor Bill White in November's general election. White earned 76 percent of the statewide vote and 83 percent in Collin County to defeat six other candidates.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall earned the nomination for his 16th term in Congress by defeating five challengers. He narrowly avoided a runoff with Steve Clark.
Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo was defeated by challenger David Porter, who earned 53.2 percent of the vote in Collin County.
Collin County Judge Keith Self won 57.5 percent of the vote to fight off a challenge from John Muns.
Greg Willis earned 65 percent of the vote in the criminal district attorney race to top Jeff Bray and James Angelino.
Jerry Lewis won the nod for County Court at Law No. 2 judge, taking 54 percent of the vote to beat Sharon Ramage.
Lance Baxter earned the most votes for the No. 3 seat with 36.8 percent. He will have a runoff with Stewart Matthews, who garnered 31.6 percent of the vote to edge Barnett Walker, who got 31.5 percent.
Matthew Goeller earned 28 percent of the votes for the County Court at Law No. 4 seat, and he will face a runoff with Linda Wynn Drain, who earned almost 24 percent.
Also headed for a runoff is the County Court at Law No. 6 seat, with Terri Green earning 32.3 percent of the vote and Jay Bender getting 31.4 percent.
Patricia Crigger earned 43.3 percent of the vote for Republican district clerk. She will have a runoff against Alma Hays, who earned 33.3 percent.
Fred Moses earned the Republican county chairman seat with 63.5 percent of the vote to defeat Mandy Tschoepe.
Republican voters statewide approved all five ballot propositions, with four receiving support of more than 90 percent in Collin County.
Proposition 5, which calls for a sonogram to be performed and shown to any woman about to undergo an elective abortion, gained 64.6 percent of Collin County voters' support.
On the Democratic side, Linda Chavez-Thompson avoided a runoff by garnering 53 percent of the statewide vote, including 49.4 percent in Collin County. Ronnie Earle earned 35 percent statewide and 34 percent in the county, while Marc Katz was a distant third.
Hank Gilbert won a close primary against Kinky Friedman for the agriculture commissioner post, taking 52 percent of the statewide vote. Friedman earned 58 percent of the vote in Collin County.
Hector Uribe won 52 percent of the statewide vote to defeat Bill Burton in the land commissioner race. Burton earned almost 55 percent of the vote in Collin County.
Shawn Stevens easily defeated Yasin R. Ali in the Democratic county chair race, earning 79 percent of the vote.