Travis Griffith Defeats Mike Hernandez to Become Next Police Chief

SAN ANGELO, TX — The long-fought battle to become San Angelo’s next police chief ended in victory for Travis Griffith on Saturday night. He defeated Mike Hernandez soundly in the runoff election, which resulted from the May 4 election where Hernandez missed winning outright by just 35 votes.

Griffith improved his performance in in-person early voting, where in the May 4 election Hernandez won with 53.22% of the vote. For the runoff, Griffith defeated Hernandez in in-person early votes, 51.89% to 48.11%, almost flipping the script on Hernandez. There were 4,745 early voters, up from 3,277 early votes cast on May 4. Griffith increased his election day winning margin from 52.90% on May 4 to 56.53% for the runoff. There were 203 additional voters on runoff election day.

An interesting statistic not reported elsewhere is that the number of eligible voters increased significantly since May 4. On May 4, the elections office reported 53,495 eligible voters in the city. Today, the elections office reported 56,262, up 2,767 new voters in just six weeks.

The May 4 election saw 6,639 voters; runoff participation increased to 8,378, an increase of 1,739 voters.

The election results are unofficial until the San Angelo City Council canvasses the results in about two weeks. Until then, the elections office will need to resolve provisional ballots before releasing a final tally.

How did Griffith win? We outlined part of his strategy in the Police Chief Chronicles: How Mike Hernandez Loses.