Have Tom Green County Democrats Yee'd Their Last Haw?

SAN ANGELO – Tom Green County Democrats failed to field a single candidate for the March 2022 Primary election which means there will be no democrats elected to any county office in the Nov. General election.  

The last Democrat elected to office in Tom Green County was Pct 1 Constable Roy Balderaz in 2009.  

In South Carolina, things are worse according to news sources. "Democratic Party leaders moved quietly this week to lower expectations for the midterm elections as they met for year-end talks against the backdrop of an increasingly bleak electoral landscape.

The House? Likely gone. The Senate? A crapshoot.

Interviews with more than two dozen state party chairs, executive directors and strategists suggest party officials are reframing the 2022 election as a defensive effort, with success defined as maintaining the Democratic Senate majority and holding back a Republican tide in the House.'

By every conventional measure, Democrats are staring into a midterm abyss. Inflation is soaring, and large majorities of Americans are anxious about the economy. Biden’s approval ratings — a metric closely tied to a party’s performance in the midterms — are stuck in the low 40s, according to the FiveThirtyEight polling average, and generic ballot tests pitting unnamed Republicans against unnamed Democrats have swung in the GOP’s favor.

Even worse for the party in power, Covid-19 is still killing more than 1,000 Americans a day, and the virus’ Omicron strain is spreading so rapidly that Democrats are bracing for a spike in cases to start the new year."

In the March 2022 Primary elections, the following Tom Green County offices are up for election: 

County Judge; County Court-at-Law Judges Place 1 and 2; District Clerk; County Clerk; County Treasurer; all four Justices of the Peace; and County Commissioners in Pct. 2 & 4. 

All 27 Tom Green County elected offices are held by Republicans.  

The incumbents in the offices up for election are: 

County Judge Steve Floyd who is not seeking re-election

County Court-at-law Judge Place 1 Ben Nolen

County Court-at-law Judge Place 2 Penny Roberts who is not seeking re-election

District Clerk Anthony Monico

County Clerk Christina Ubando

County Treasurer Dianna Spieker 

Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Susan Werner

Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 J.P. McGuire who is not seeking re-election

Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Fred Buck who is not seeking re-election

Justice of the Peace Pct. 4 Eddie Howard 

County Commissioner Pct. 2 Sammy Farmer

County Commissioner Pct. 4 Bill Ford

Two County offices up for election have attracted the most attention to this point; Tom Green County Judge and County Commissioner Pct. 4.  The following is a list of candidates who have announced their candidacy in the Republican Primary.  To date, no Tom Green County Democrats have entered any county races. 

Candidates running for County Judge in the Republican Primary are:  Todd Kolls, Joe Hyde, Tommy Usery and Lane Carter. 

Candidates running for County Commissioner in Pct. 4 are: Incumbent Bill Ford, Coco Simpson, Lori Wilson, Dustin Barton, Derrick Garnett and Shawn Nanny.  

Candidates running for Justice of the Peace in Pct. 2 are: Thomas Daniel and Christopher Duerstine. 

Candidates running for Justice of the Peace in Pct. 3 are: Stacye Speck, Ron Perry and Martha Muro. 

Candidates running for County Court-at-law Judge Place 2 are: Leland Lacy and Andrew Graves.

The deadline to file to run in a County Office Party Primary was Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.  

No Democrats filed for offices in Tom Green County.  

The following Tom Green County Office Holders are running unopposed in the March Republican Primary: 

County Commissioner Pct. 2 Sammy Farmer

District Clerk Anthony Monico

County Clerk Christina Ubando

County Treasurer Dianna Spieker 

Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Susan Werner

Justice of the Peace Pct. 4 Eddie Howard

Tom Green County Court-at-law Place 1 Judge Ben Nolen 

There will be two elections statewide on March 1, 2022, the Democrat Primary and the Republican Primary.   In addition to the local offices on the ballot, there are statewide offices and congressional offices as well.  

Texans will be electing a Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, Commissioner of Agriculture, Rail Road Commissioner, Texas Supreme Court Justices, Court of Criminal Appeals Court Judges, 3rd Court of Appeals Judges and State Representative.

Anyone wishing to write a letter to the editor endorsing a candidate is encouraged to do so.  

Letters to the editor need to include a valid email address and a photo of the author and can be emailed to [email protected].