Runoffs in store for a couple of Lavaca County Republican primary races

At least two races highly contested political races are destined for a runoff election this primary season election season, with the final showdown set for the end of May.

The three-way race for county sheriff on Lavaca County's Republican Party Primary Election ballots last week work to effectively split the votes between incumbent Micah Harmon and challengers Steven Greenwell and Anthony Vaccaro, with none of the candidates successful in garnering the more than half the votes needed to walk away the victor.

A Moulton native, Desert Storm veteran and retired agent supervisor with the Department of Homeland Security who wrapped up his career leading some of that agency's first cybercrime investigations that ultimately imprisoned several South Texas individuals who brutalized children in the name of pornography, Green led Tuesday's ballots in the sheriff's race, garnering 2,243 votes to finish with more than 43% of the ballots cast in that race.

Harmon followed with 1,710 votes, or slightly more than 33 percent of the votes cast, while Vaccaro—a former investigator under Harmon—finished in a close third, collecting more than 1,200 ballots to finish with nearly 24% of the votes cast for sheriff. 

As such, Greenwell and Harmon will go head-to-head in the May 28 runoff election, with early voting set to take place May 20-24.

Another heated race bound for a May showdown lies with the Texas State House District 30 seat currently held by Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, who announced in November she would not seek another term of office. 

Her retirement spawned a litany of contenders to file for her seat, but two quickly rose to the top of the pecking order with Victoria civic leader Jeff Bauknight and the longtime Jackson County Sheriff and frequent border security spokesman A.J. Louderback. 

The two candidates effectively split the six-county House District 30, with Louderback taking Jackson, Lavaca and Matagorda counties, while Bauknight claimed DeWitt and Goliad counties, and by a surprisingly narrow margin, his home county of Victoria.  

Following a particularly grueling political gauntlet run by both campaigns in the final days leading up last Tuesday's vote, there are not many kind words to be found between the two camps, and one can only imagine what fireworks are on the horizon for the May 28 runoff.

Still, a less than 2% margin was all that separated the two men in a race that saw more than 27,000 ballots cast. Bauknight and Louderback wrapped up the primary with 42.06% and 40.47% shares of vote, respectively, well ahead of the others on the ballot, including Vanessa Hicks-Callaway who won slightly more than 10% of the ballots cast in that race, and Bret Baldwin, who collected just over 7% of the vote.

Whoever wins that race still has the November general election to contend with, by way of Democratic challenger Stephanie Bassham.

The only other two contested races for Lavaca County voters were decided with last week's voting. 

Edward Pustka will be returning for another term as Lavaca County's Precinct 1 county commissioner, having narrowly defeated challenger Travis Henderson 834-687 in what proved their second time around at vying for that job.

And in another rematch from four years ago, Kyle Denney and James Reeves once again went head-to-head for the county attorney's seat, with Reeves proving the victor this time around by collecting more than 65% of the ballots cast in that race.

Neither Pustka nor Reeves faces a Democratic challenger in November, so Tuesday's primary race pretty well secured their office come Jan. 1, 2025.