Young County Voters Mostly in Step with State Trends

Texas voters used the March 3 primary elections to signal the direction of both major parties heading into the November general election, reinforcing familiar political patterns across the state.

Unofficial vote tallies showed Republicans largely rallying behind incumbents and well-known conservative figures in most statewide contests, while Democratic voters sorted through several competitive primaries that will send some races to runoffs later this spring.

As in previous election cycles, rural counties remained a stronghold for Republican candidates, while Democratic contests reflected debates within the party about its leadership and message heading into the general election. In Young County, voters generally mirrored statewide trends in many races, though in a few contests local results diverged from the broader Texas electorate.

In the Republican primary for U.S. Senator, 3,290 voters participated in Young County with incumbent John Cornyn winning 47.4 percent in Young County, compared with 41.9 percent statewide; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at 39.9 percent in Young County, compared with 40.7 percent statewide, and Wesley Hunt at 9.8 percent in Young County compared with 13.5 percent statewide.

The hotly contested Democratic contest for U.S. Senate showed James Talarico prevailing statewide at 52.4 percent and 63.9 percent in Young County, and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett gaining 46.2 percent statewide and 35.2 percent in Young County. Ahmad Hassan got 1.3 percent of Democrats’ votes statewide and 0.9 percent in Young County.

U.S. Representative Roger Williams, of U.S. House District 25, was unchallenged in the Republican primary, and will face Democrat Dion Sims, who won 60.5 percent of the statewide Democratic vote, compared with 46.7 percent of Young County Democratic ballots. William Marks won 53.3 percent of the Young County Democratic vote.

The Texas House District 68 race will pit Republican incumbent David Spiller, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary, against Democrat Jasmine Henderson, who also ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In the GOP Governor’s race, incumbent Greg Abbott won 81.3 percent of votes in Young County, about the same as his statewide vote percentage. Pete “Doc” Chambers, a physician and retired U.S. Army lieutenant/Green Beret who is president of the Remnant Ministry TX, won 12.2 percent in Young County, compared with 11.2 percent statewide. Nine other GOP governor candidates split the rest of the votes, with none gaining more than 1.5 percent of votes from Young County voters.

Democratic voters statewide overwhelmingly elected state Rep. Gina Hinojosa as their gubernatorial candidate, with 58.5 percent of the vote statewide, compared with 51.9 percent of Young County Democrats’ ballots. Former congressman and Houston City Councilmember Chris Bell took 9.8 percent of votes statewide and 9.2 percent in Young County. Community organizer Angela “Tia Angie” Villescaz won 6.8 percent statewide and 8.9 percent in Young County, Patricia Abrego won 5.8 percent statewide and 3.2 percent in Young County, Andrew White won 5.3 percent statewide and 10.8 percent in Young County. Cattle rancher Bobby Cole was at 5.1 percent statewide and 8.6 percent in Young County. The other three candidates, Jose Navarro Balbuena, Carlton Hart, and Zach Vance, captured 3 percent or less statewide and about the same in Young County.

In the race for lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick won 87 percent of Young County Republican votes, compared with 84.7 percent of the statewide total. Timothy Mabry captured 8.3 percent of Young County ballots compared with 8.9 percent statewide. Two other challengers, Perla Munoz Hopkins and Esala Weuschner, split the remaining 5 percent of Young County votes.

Mr. Patrick will face the winner of a runoff between Democratic state Sen. Vikki Godwin from Travis County, who won 48 percent of the vote statewide and 44.9 percent in Young County, and labor leader and former oilworker Marcos Velez, who won 31.5 percent of the Democrats’ ballots statewide, and 29.5 percent in Young County. Courtney Head won 20.5 percent in the statewide Democratic primary and 25.5 percent in Young County.

The GOP Attorney General race will see state Sen. Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in a runoff in May, with Sen. Middleton earning 31.7 percent of Young County votes and Rep. Roy earning 34.9 percent of Young County votes. Aaron Reitz and Joan Huffman captured 15.51 percent and 17.8 percent of the Young County ballots.

T he winner of the Republican AG runoff will face the winner of a Democratic runoff between Dallas County State Senator Nathan Johnson and attorney and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski. Mr. Johnson received 48.1 percent of Democrats’ votes statewide, and Mr. Jaworski received 26.4 percent, with Dallas attorney Tony Box trailing slightly behind at 25.5 percent statewide.

Former state senator Don Huffines won the GOP primary statewide for Agriculture Commissioner, with Young County supporting him by 47.6 percent of the vote, compared with 28.7 percent for Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick and 21.7 percent for Kelly Hancock, a former state senator who became acting comptroller in 2025. Michael Berlanga received 1.9 percent of the Young County vote.

General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham was unchallenged in the primary. She will meet Democrat Benjamin Flores in the November general election.

Although Young County voted to return incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller to office in the primary by 63.5 percent, his challenger, Nate Sheets, beat Mr. Miller statewide, 47.3 percent to 52.7 percent, and now will face uncontested Democrat Clayton Tucker in the general election.

In the Railroad Commissioner race, Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal will meet the winner of a GOP runoff between incumbent Jim Wright, who received 32.1 percent of GOP votes statewide, compared to 41.6 percent in Young County, and Bo French, who received 31.7 percent statewide and 11.9 percent in Young County. James Matlock won 19.3 percent of the GOP vote statewide and 21.7 percent in Young County. Katherine Culbert won 9.2 percent statewide and 7.18 percent in Young County, and Hawk Dunlap received 7.7 percent of votes statewide and 17.62 percent in Young County.

Several statewide races will now advance to runoff elections in May, setting up additional contests that could further clarify the ideological direction of both parties before the November general election.

For Young County voters, the primary results largely reflected the county’s longstanding conservative voting patterns while still showing occasional differences from statewide trends in several races.

Turnout in Young County for the primary elections was 29.1 percent, representing about 3,600 voters, according to Elections Coordinator Kaitlyn Mosely.

That tracks with the estimated state turnout of about 25 percent, according to several major news outlets. The Texas Secretary of State has not yet released turnout number or official voting results.