Updated: Sheryl Cole wins House District 46 runoff

UPDATE: 10:30 p.m. In the race to represent House District 46 at the Texas Legislature, former Austin City Council Member Sheryl Cole emerged as winner – but with a very thin margin – over José “Chito” Vela. Unofficial results showed Cole won 4,967 votes, or 50.89 percent. Vela won 4,794 votes, or 49.11 percent. The winner will replace state Rep. Dawnna Dukes, the only African-American in the Travis County legislative delegation.

8:16 p.m. Based on their strong showing in the early vote in both Travis and Bexar counties, the Austin Monitor is projecting that Republican Chip Roy will face Democrat Joseph Kopser in the November election for Texas’ 21st Congressional District. The winner will take over the seat of retiring Rep. Lamar Smith.

In the early vote, Kopser beat Mary Street Wilson with 59 percent of the vote in Travis County. In Bexar County, Kopser took 63 percent of the early vote. A 20-year Army veteran and tech entrepreneur, Kopser reminded voters of his candidacy with a well-funded advertising campaign.

On the Republican side, Roy and Matt McCall each tried to show that he was the more right-wing, according to media reports of a forum for the pair. Roy worked for Sen. Ted Cruz’s super PAC and Cruz endorsed him.

Roy took 63 percent of the early vote in Travis County and 52 percent of the early vote in Bexar County.

In the 10th Congressional District, Democrat Mike Siegel will face incumbent Republican Rep. Michael McCaul in November. Siegel, an assistant city attorney for Austin, won 76.5 percent of the early vote in Travis County compared to 23.5 percent for Tawana Walter-Cadien.

Texas House District 47 Democratic candidate Vikki Goodwin easily defeated her primary opponent in Tuesday’s runoff with more than 60 percent of the early vote. She trounced Elaina Fowler for a chance to face incumbent state Rep. Paul Workman, the Republican who has held the seat since 2011.

Based on the early vote, Maya Guerra Gamble seemed poised to defeat Aurora Martinez Jones in the race for a chance to take over as judge of the 459th District Court. The winner will face Republican Dustin Howell. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Howell to the new bench last December. Gamble had 52 percent of the early vote, about 1,100 votes more than her opponent.

Photo by Eric (HASH) Hersman made available through a Creative Commons license.

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