May 7 Election Results
ELLIS COUNTY ISD BOARD TRUSTEE
Ellis County’s May 7 local elections saw a number of independent school board races, however at least four were canceled in Ennis, Ferris, Maypearl, and Red Oak.
MIDLOTHIAN ISD had seats open for Place 4 and Place 5.
In Place 4, Whitney Krupala and Mike Dillow were vying for the seat that current trustee Matt Sanders was not seeking re-election to fill. Dillow, received 57.83% or 2,112 votes beat Krupala with 1,540 votes or 42.17% to take the lead.
In Place 5, incumbent Bobby Soto was defeated in unofficial results with 46.96% or 1,599 of the vote to challenger Jessica Ward’s 53.04% or 1,806 votes.
In MILFORD ISD, there were two trustee seats open with five challengers and one incumbent.
Incumbent Kimberly Kaye Cook will keep her seat with 72 votes and Ronny Crumpton also received a majority of the votes with 90. Other challengers Louis Essary had 64 votes; DeAnn Harvey, 31 votes; and Christopher Serrata received 22 votes.
Incumbent Swish Washington took the unexpired term with no challengers.
In PALMER ISD the two ISD board trustee seats will remain with incumbents Gary Barnes with 197 votes, Jeremy Robinson with 297 votes – both defeating challenger Matthew Cearnal who received 167 votes.
WAXAHACHIE ISD’S Places 6 and 7 were on the ballot Saturday with Dusty Autrey in Place 6 receiving 70.51% of the vote against challenger Amy Hedtke coming in with 29.40% of the vote.
In Place 7, Debbie Timmermann will keep her seat with 56.39% of the vote to challenger Ryan Pitts coming in with 43.61% of the vote.
MAY 7 CITY COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS
Election Day saw a few upsets in unofficial results for city council members in several cities across Ellis and Dallas County.
There will be a runoff race in Midlothian for Place 3 – likely to be held on June 18, 2022.
ITALY held its general election for three candidates with two-year terms.
Incumbent Luin McConnell kept his seat with 24.22% of the vote while Robert C. Hodge Jr. will city on the city council with 24.22% of the vote and William Panther will be the third winner with 66% of the vote.
The city also held a special election for one candidate for one year. That seat was won narrowly by Brooke Boyd with 66 votes to Troy Kowalsky’s 64 votes in unofficial results.
MAYPEARL held its election for two seats.
Incumbent Mark Partin received 36.63% of the vote, incumbent John Wayne Pruitt 21.78% of the vote, losing his seat to challenger Robert Laake with 41.58% of the vote.
MIDLOTHIAN had both Place 3 and 4 on the May 7 ballot.
It appears incumbent Theodore “Ted” Miller will not be returning to his Place 3 seat. He had three challengers: Ed Gardner, Anna Hammonds, and Dannion McLendon. Miller came in close against Gardner with 652 votes to Gardner’s 675 votes, Hammonds took the lead though with 969 votes.
Since no candidate received over 50% of the vote there will be a runoff election likely on June 18.
The Midlothian city secretary did say the votes would not be canvassed until later in the week as there were still some votes to count.
Place 4 Clark Wickliffe kept his seat with no challengers.
In the city of MILFORD, Bruce Perryman will keep his seat as Mayor with 120 votes to challenger Scott Otto’s 37 votes.
Ty Evans, Judy Finch, and Ernestine Byrd all kept their seats on the council with no challengers.
In OAK LEAF, Mayor Tom Leverentz ran unopposed as did Place 5 Cody Cockerham.
In Place 4, incumbent Michelle Hillery kept her seat with 195 votes to challenger Lukeman Elchehimi’s 29 votes.
OVILLA had three seats up for election Place 1, 3 and 5.
In Place 3, David Griffin ran unopposed.
In Place 1, Rachel Huber did not seek re-election and Kimberly Case took the lead to replace her with 57.10% of the vote to Brandon Collett’s 42.90% of the vote.
Incumbent Michael Myers came in with 236 votes in Place 5 with challenger Brad Piland receiving 251 votes and Sierra Killpack with 88 votes.
PALMER had four hopefuls on the ballot in May to fill three seats.
Incumbents James Smith, Jorge Sotelo and Doug Young kept their seats with challenger Michael Heard only receiving 15.05% of the vote.
RED OAK had Places 2, 4 and 5 up for re-election.
In Place 2, incumbent Ben Goodwyn kept his seat with no challengers.
In Place 4, councilmember Ron Wilson did not seek re-election and Tim Lightfoot took that seat with no challengers.
In Place 5, incumbent Michael Braly lost his seat with 47.15% of the vote to challenger Jeffrey Dean Smith who received 52.85% of the vote.
In the city of VENUS only Ellis County results were available at press time – Johnson County election results were not easily found on the counties election site.
In Ellis County, Place 3 incumbent Jean Scott received four votes to Jessica Marie Kuykendall’s 16 votes.
In Place 4, incumbent Geronimo Hernandez, Jr. received 6 votes to challenger Dennis Arnold Roach, Jr. 13 votes.
Place 5’s Phyllis Lewis did not seek re-election and in that race Drew Wilson Clayton received 15 votes to Alicia Lynn Rosales 4 votes.
WAXAHACHIE had Places 1, 2 and 3 seats up for re-election in the May 7 city council race.
In Place 1, incumbent David Hill kept his seat with 76.02% of the vote with challenger Darrin Robinson receiving 23.98% of the vote.
In Place 2, Mayor Doug Barnes received 42.22% of the vote against challenger Patrick Souter with 30.05% of the vote and Johnny Bryant 27.73% of the vote.
The Place 3 incumbent Melissa Olson lost her race with 44% of the vote to her opponent Chris Wright, who came in with 56% of the vote.
DALLAS COUNTY ELECTIONS NEAR ELLIS COUNTY
HUTCHINS had two open seats with three candidates running and two candidates vying for Mayor.
Incumbent Mayor Mario kept his seat in unofficial results narrowly with 121 votes to challenger Demarcus Odom 112 votes. Odom currently sits on the Hutchins City Council as a councilmember.
Incumbent’s Brenda Campbell and Stephen Nichols both kept their seats with one challenger, Gerald Hollis. Hollis received 104 votes, Nichols 108 and Campbell 143 votes.
WILMER had two seats open with incumbents Melissa Ramirez and Sergio Campos running for the open seats against challengers Pamela Wash and Laura Jacobs.
In an upset, Ramirez and Campos lost to their challengers Ramirez received 64 votes, Campos 68 votes, while Jacobs came in with 92 votes and Wash 97 votes.
RED OAK RESIDENTS VOTE NO TO ALL FOUR BOND PROPOSITIONS
Red Oak voters went to the polls Saturday and voted down all four Red Oak ISD bond propositions.
Proposition A nearly passed, losing by 250 votes, according to unofficial results.
Red Oak ISD Superintendent Brenda Sanford posted the following statement on Facebook Saturday evening:
“First, I want to thank our staff, students, and families for their persistence, resiliency, and hard work this semester (and all year). Together, we have met difficulties head-on, worked to find solutions to new obstacles, and put in the extra effort for each student while balancing personal challenges and sometimes overwhelming life issues.
“Red Oak ISD is growing and growth has growing pains – overcrowded schools being our District’s biggest concern.
“We launched a Citizen’s Facility Planning Committee last fall after a May 2021 survey showed support for facility renovations and expansion. By January, a $230.1M bond proposal was recommended to the Board who approved and placed the bond on the May 7 ballot.
“Following the election results from Saturday, unfortunately, no propositions passed. The District will go back to the drawing board for growth management and, simultaneously, develop a multi-year plan to continue using our existing facilities to the fullest extent.
“We know the past four months have caused some unfortunate division in the community over the value of the bond and the direction of our District.
“We will continue to stay the course, modeling the four talons of the Hawk, and, to the best of our ability every day, we will teach kids!
“We know the heart of every educator, from the classroom to the bus barn, in every cafeteria, office, and on each school, is in the field of education to impact the lives of students.
“We look forward to taking the next steps together, as Hawk Nation. We have strong roots with a deep value for education. Now we need to spread and use our powerful wings to take us to the next level.
“I am proud to be a Red Oak Hawk,” she concluded.