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The race for the Democratic nomination for Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector was over early Tuesday evening, when early voting returns showed incumbent Nelda Wells Spears with 75 percent of the vote. That commanding lead prompted challenger Glen Maxey, a former State Representative, to concede the nomination to the incumbent who has held the office since 1991.

 

“I congratulate Ms. Spears for a great race. I look forward to working with her and her staff to register voters in Travis County,” Maxey said, “and I’ll be helping Ms. Spears beat the Republican in November so that we can continue the great Democratic leadership in that office.”

 

Don Zimmerman ran unopposed for the Republican nomination and will be on the ballot for November’s general election. Zimmerman has previously run for State Representative and also campaigned against the creation of the Travis County Healthcare District.

 

During his campaign, Maxey and others made several charges against Spears, including that her office improperly purged some voters from the registration rolls. “I was not surprised that it went negative so early,” Spears said of Maxey’s campaign. “I just knew that from the beginning, I wasn’t going to be that negative person on the other side. That’s just not who I am.”

 

Spears said she was pleased at her margin of victory in the Democratic primary. “The numbers during early voting were fantastic,” she said. “I thank the people of Travis County for being proud of their tax office and wanting to keep it as it is.”