Election Returns: Brenda Gunter Elected Mayor in a Landslide

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — Citizens inside the city of San Angelo went to the polls Saturday to elect a new mayor and four new city council representatives.

There were 7,282 votes cast out of 54,656 registered voters. Brenda Gunter carried the absentee and early votes by a large margin and we declared her the winner by a landslide. About half the votes were cast during early voting. Over in SMD 6, Charlotte Farmer's former district, there will be a runoff between Billie DeWitt and Steve Hampton on July 7.

Bill Richardson, the councilman who resigned and caused the special SMD 1 election to happen, only attracted 37 votes in early voting, and 74 total. Tommy Hiebert will return to the city council representing SMD 1 and the Lake Nasworthy/Bentwood areas after a 20 year absence from office.

Tom Thompson, who ran unopposed, received 578 votes out of the 782 who voted in the Lake View district, SMD 2. There were 203 under votes. 

The next Mayor of San Angelo, Brenda Gunter, gave her victory speech at 9:22 p.m. 

When congratulating the 150 supporters who attended Gunter's victory party at Miss Hattie's Restaurant, she said, "It's not about what we just accomplished. It's about what we're going to accomplish over the next four years."

"This city is about the citizens, and I want to be your leader," she said.

Held in conjunction with the City of San Angelo election, Wall ISD selected three trustees for its school district's board. They were, David Kubenka, Brandon Braden, and Doug Dusek. Download all the official results here.

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Above: The winning campaign team. Brenda Gunter (center) is flanked by Stephen McLaughlin, her ad guy; Del Velasquez, her trusted advisor; Lucie Hofheins, and Kathleen Hicks.

Mayor of San Angelo
CandidateAbsentee (percent)Early Votes (percent)Election Day (percent)TOTAL (Percent)
Zach Taylor 56 (7.82%)115 (3.68%)161 (5.04%) 332 (4.72%)
Tony Villarreal 90 (12.57%) 676 (21.61%) 549 (17.17%)1,315 (18.68%)
Charlotte Farmer168 (23.46%) 339 (10.84%) 295 (9.23%)802 (11.39%)
Brenda Gunter402 (56.15%) 1,998 (63.87%) 2,192 (68.56%)4,592 (65.22%)
SMD1
CandidateAbsenteeEarly Votes (percent)Election Day (percent)TOTAL (Percent)
Bill Richardson 11 (9.02%) 26 (3.02%)37 (4.14%)74 (3.95%)
Darrin Fentress5 (4.10%) 43 (5.00%)47 (5.26%)95 (5.07%)
Tommy Hiebert 66 (54.10%) 540 (62.79%)573 (64.17%)1,179 (62.88%)
Anna Bartosh 40 (32.79%) 251 (29.19%)236 (26.43%)527 (28.11%)
SMD2
CandidateAbsenteeEarly Votes (percent)Election Day (percent)TOTAL (Percent)
Tom Thompson63 (100.00%) 265 (100.00%) 250 (100.00%)578 (100.00%)
SMD4
CandidateAbsenteeEarly Votes (percent)Election Day (percent)TOTAL (Percent)
Lucy Gonzales 50 (75.76%)144 (64.29%) 166 (57.24%)360 (62.07%)
Chris Giroux16 (24.24%)80 (35.71%)124 (42.76%)220 (37.93%)
SMD6
CandidateAbsenteeEarly Votes (percent)Election Day (percent)TOTAL (Percent)
Rebekah Coffman56 (29.63%)133 (18.42%)199 (27.11%)388 (23.59%)
Billie F. Dewitt57 (30.16%)279 (38.64%) 275 (37.47%)384 (36.54%)
Steve Hampton76 (40.21%)310 (42.94%)260 (35.42%)646 (39.27%)

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Concho, Sat, 05/06/2017 - 20:44

Not sure where you came up with "Approximately 7,000 votes will be counted" but it is way off base. With all precincts reporting, the county website indicates a total of 4309 valid votes for mayor. Where do the almost 3000 other ballots come from? It is sad to see that only 465 valid votes for mayor were cast today. Must have been a pretty easy, albeit long, day for the precinct workers. Anybody that didn't vote should have no complaint on the results although I suspect there will be many non-voters complaining about future council decisions.
There will be a runoff in SMD6. Given the extremely lack of overall interest, how many voting locations will the county use for the runoff election. A suggestion would be one.

live, Sun, 05/07/2017 - 11:27

There were 7282 votes cast Saturday night. I received the early estimate of 7,000 from the election judge before the first results were published. There were 5,500 votes in 2015 when Mayor Dwain Morrison defeated David Nowlin by over 60 percent of the vote. 

The "Precincts Reporting" number on the top right hand side of the county elections office tally sheet is no longer valid since the county transitioned from precinct voting locations to "voting centers." Today, if you are eligible to vote in any election in Tom Green County, you can vote at any of the announced voting centers, even if the voting center is across town from your precinct. 

Therefore, in all elections, the county's reporting states, "35 of 35 precincts reporting," even on the initial early voting results release.

Concho, Sat, 05/06/2017 - 21:00

The county despite posting results of 35 of 35 precincts as being 100% at 2024, now has new numbers, again posting 35 of 35 precincts being 100% at 2041 with different numbers.
Total votes in the mayoral election now reported as 5251 with 19 under votes. There were 1407 votes today.
Total votes in SMD6 election now reported as 1051 with 127 under votes.

The county continues to update despite each time saying count is 100 percent of all precincts. The total could possibly reach the 7000 you reported. It is still reflects that far too many citizens do not take their civic duties responsibly.

Simply Amazing.. Huge turnout for presidential elections, but the mayor and city council have a much more tangible effect on our day to day lives in the city. Less than 20% of registered voters took the time to vote.

Good to see that San Angelo has a female mayor! I wish her success in everything she does to help the city prosper.

May she rule mercilessly, crushing her enemies underfoot, annihilating the egos of her opposition and strangling their will to live. May all detractors be exterminated by the coherent beams of the radiance, like the fully harnessed power of the brutal West Texas sun, of her vision for this community that emanate from her mind's eye and the ashes of their contrariety scattered to fecundate the soil of rich new enterprises.

Hopefully she gets some neat stuff put in the town.

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