TRUMP WINS, TARKINGTON STAYS BUSY

The 2024 election will be one for the record books, as Donald Trump will again be heading to the White House, and local voters in Tarkington were busy making several important decisions. 

Turnout was the highest ever recorded in Liberty County, as 57.44% of registered voters made their opinion heard. That number comes out to 31,337 people, and the polls stayed busy. The release of early voting totals was delayed due to heavy turnout, as all polls must be closed to release that information. 

Trump overwhelmingly won the county for the third consecutive presidential election, and voters had a record turnout locally, including in the Tarkington area, where all of the contested local races were on the ballot, including a second attempt to pass a bond referendum this year. 

The bond, which was the second on the ballot in Tarkington ISD this calendar year, was for $80 million and would have seen the construction of a new elementary campus and upgrades across the district. However, voters rejected the proposal once again. 

TISD voters also had multiple races on the ballot for the Board of Trustees and there will be a couple of new board members going forward. 

In the race for Position 4, incumbent Dwayne Stovall led all voters to take the night, ahead of Jared Keith, Kristen Fuller and Matthew Douglas. 

In the contest for Position 5, voters decided to replace Pete Vandver, the incumbent, who came in third. Leading that race was Jason Ward, while David Tackett came in second. 

Position 6 will have a new representative, as incumbent Cory Anderson did not run for reelection. Voters gave Jackie Flores the nod in that contest, defeating James Hyde and Kristen Cheramie brought up the end. 

Finally, voters in TISD reelected incumbent board member Lan Gulledge in a race with Ricky Massie. 

Voters on the prairie stayed busy as they had the only contested race at a county level, as voters made their voices heard in the Liberty County Constable Pct. 5 race between Republican incumbent David Hunter and write-in challenger James Gardiner. While the challenger was able to muster 1,000 write-in votes, it was not enough to counter Hunter’s 3,745. 

Other races of local interest saw incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Babin in the race for District 36 fended off Democratic challenger Dayna Steele in a race that includes Liberty, Chambers, Newton, Jasper, Tyler and Hardin counties, as well as portions of Jefferson County and southeastern Harris County. 

Finally, Janis Holt will officially head to Austin as the new House District 18 State Representative. Holt soundly defeated Libertarian challenger Seth Steele to represent Liberty, Hardin and San Jacinto counties and a portion of east Montgomery County.