Jack Cox Jack B. Cox on Tuesday won the Republican primary election for Precinct 4 county commissioner, and Camron Brister claimed victory by a wide margin in the GOP primary for Precinct 2&3 justice of the peace.

Cox, the incumbent Precinct 4 commissioner, outpolled Republican Marcus Foster by a vote of 365 to 251. Cox received 59 percent of the votes, and Foster got 41 percent.

Cox won voting precinct 4 by a count of 163 votes to 126. He also won Box 5, where he tallied 124 votes to Foster’s 76. In voting precinct 10, Cox captured 78 votes to Foster’s 49.

Cox will face Democratic challenger Brent Henderson in the November general election. Henderson, unopposed in his party’s primary, earned 83 votes.

“I’m just thankful for all the support to get through this primary,” Cox said. “I had a tremendous amount of help from my friends and neighbors ... and associates.”

Camron Brister “I’m just going to go from here looking on the bright side,” he added. “We’ll just continue on with the job of being county commissioner.”

In the Precinct 2&3 JP race, Brister enjoyed a wide margin of victory, as he earned 315 votes — or 59 percent of the total. Brister unseated incumbent Dick Lockett, whose 84 votes accounted for about 16 percent of the total.

David Ivey garnered 69 votes, or 13 percent, and W.D. Crain got 65 votes, or 12 percent.

Brister won voting boxes 6, 7 and 9 — those included in JP Precinct 2&3 — with at least 54 percent of the total at each polling place.

Brister will not face Democratic opposition in the fall and will take office in January 2011.

Brister’s law enforcement experience brought him favor with voters, the JP-elect said.

Mike Conaway “I’m a hometown boy,” he said, “and I’ve always served people right as a [sheriff’s deputy]. I’ve always done things in their best interests.”

As he did during his campaign, Brister emphasized his plans to reduce outstanding warrants and implement a community service program as an alternative to fines for certain offenses.

The community service option, which Brister hopes to offer within six months of taking office, will focus on Lometa, Bend and Nix youth — although Brister said he hopes adults will participate as well.

Despite challenges from two selfdescribed conservatives, District 11 U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway won the Republican primary with 55,559 votes, or 77 percent of the ballots cast districtwide.

San Angelo businessman Chris Younts tallied 9,577 votes, about 13 percent of the district total. Austin computer company owner Al Cowan collected 6,672 votes, or 9 percent.

Conaway also easily won Lampasas County, claiming 1,624 votes to Younts’ 318 and Cowan’s 246. Conaway got 74 percent of Lampasas County votes, while Younts had about 14 percent and Cowan received 11 percent.

Conaway will face Democrat James Quillan and Libertarian James Powell in the general election. Neither challenger had opposition in his party’s primary.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White both coasted to victory statewide, as well as in Lampasas County.

Perry defeated U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison 51 percent to 30 percent statewide. Debra Medina of Wharton received slightly more than 18 percent statewide.

The distribution of votes in Lampasas County followed a similar pattern, although Mrs. Medina cut into Mrs. Hutchison’s support slightly. Perry received 1,238 votes — 52 percent in the county — while Mrs. Hutchison garnered 27 percent with 648 votes. Mrs. Medina earned close to 21 percent of the vote with 490 ballots cast in her favor.

White, former mayor of Houston, defeated the next closest Democratic candidate, Houston businessman Farouk Shami, by more than 170,000 votes to claim 76 percent of the votes cast statewide. In Lampasas County, White performed even better, winning 84 percent of the vote with 240 ballots cast for him. Shami, with 23 votes, got 8 percent of the Lampasas County total, and Felix Alvarado got less than 5 percent.

In the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, however, Lampasas County voters divided much more evenly than did Democrats statewide. In Lampasas County, Linda Chavez-Thompson narrowly gained a plurality, as her 120 votes accounted for 44 percent of the total. Ronnie Earle received 117 votes, or 43 percent of the Lampasas County ballots cast, and Marc Katz got 33 votes — 12 percent.

With all 8,380 precincts in the state counted, however, Mrs. Chavez-Thompson earned 53 percent of the votes and outpolled Earle by about 110,000 votes.

Katz did no better statewide than in Lampasas County, receiving 12 percent of the votes cast.

Mrs. Chavez-Thompson will face incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who was unopposed, in the general election.