Eckhardt, Rodriguez still head to runoff

Although the vast majority of votes in the special election for Senate District 14 came in and were counted last week, county clerks in Bastrop and Travis counties could not complete their final tally until Monday because of votes arriving from military and overseas voters. When the two counties did their final tally to determine who would succeed Kirk Watson – who stepped down to become the founding dean of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston – former County Judge Sarah Eckhardt was still in the lead and state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez was still in second place. According to their figures, Eckhardt needed just 304 more votes out of more than 121,000 to win the race without a runoff. Her campaign manager, Mykle Tomlinson, released the following statement: “Now that the Republicans, Libertarian and Independent are out of the race, it’s important to note that Sarah Eckhardt won 59.5 percent of the votes cast for Democrats. No amount of money or attacks were going to change the facts – Sarah Eckhardt is a proven leader who is willing to show up and do the hard work needed to be an effective public servant. This is why her closest competitor trailed her by over 19,000 votes.” Rodriguez said, “I am deeply appreciative of the support my campaign has received over the past couple months. We couldn’t have come this far without the support of everyone who has made phone calls, chipped in, organized their friends and families, and voted. Now we head into a runoff with the momentum.”