Sunday, May 5, 2024
County Judge Ron Massingill has won a second term, defeating challenger Mark Shackelford in Tuesday’s primary runoff.
The county judge contest was one of two local Republican races that were on the ballot along with six GOP precinct chair competitions.
There were no local Democratic races on the ballot.
Stephen Barnett emerged the victor in the Precinct 3 justice of the peace race, besting Wayne Baker Jr. That race featured no incumbent. The current JP for Precinct 3, Kathryn Gwinn, did not seek another term.
Neither Massingill nor Barnett will face a Democratic challenger on the November ballot.
Out of Hood County’s 47,079 registered voters, 7,433, or 15.79%, participated in the primary runoff. Of that number, 3,406 cast ballots during early voting and 4,027 voted on Election Day at the county’s nine Vote Centers.
The county judge competition started off as a four-man race in the March primary. Massingill received the highest number of votes but did not receive the required 50% of the vote plus one to win the nomination outright. He won 4,793 votes, or 45.02% of the primary ballots cast, and Shackelford scored 2,968, or 27.88%.
In the runoff, early voting totals showed Massingill with a strong lead over Shackelford. He received 1,931 votes, which was 61.67%, to Shackelford’s 1,200 votes, which was 38.33%.
Final tallies were as follows: Massingill, 4,187 (60.74%); Shackelford, 2,706 (39.26%).
In the JP3 race, Barnett maintained his early voting lead, finishing the night with 52.42% of the ballots cast.
In early voting, he received 550 votes (52.28%) to Baker’s 502 (47.72%). His total number of votes was 1,136. Baker received 1,031 votes, or 47.58%.
Here is a breakdown of the precinct chair races, in ballot order:
Precinct 101
Terry McNew: Early voting — 118/64.48%; Total — 198, 62.07%
Clint Head: Early voting — 65/35.52%; Total — 121, 37.93%
Precinct 103
David C. Cook: Early voting — 87, 65.41%; Total — 174, 62.37%
Van Vernon: Early voting — 46, 34.59%; Total — 105, 37.63%
Precinct 211
Ericka Grim: Early voting — 36, 43.37%; Total — 83, 49.70%
David Streiff: Early voting — 47, 56.65%; Total — 84, 50.30%
Precinct 216
Jim Lilly: Early voting — 81, 35.68%; Total — 275, 39.97%
Kay Crain: Early voting — 146, 64.32%; Total — 413, 60.03%
Precinct 314
Nate Criswell: Early voting — 108, 42.35%; Total — 281, 46.22%
James F. Hyde: Early voting — 147, 57.65%; Total — 327, 53.78%
Precinct 317
Courtney Gore: Early voting — 53, 43.44%; Total — 131, 45.17%
Cathy Hays: Early voting — 69, 56.56%; Total — 159, 54.83%
