Sheriff challenges county judge

ELLIS COUNTY – Politics just keep getting more interesting.

While there are a number of open seats with no challengers, the races to watch in the March GOP primary in Ellis County will be for the County Judge seat, Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 and County Commissioner Precinct 4.

Incumbent Ellis County Judge Todd Little, who did not return a phone call by press time, has a challenger in the March primary – former Ellis County Sheriff Chuck Edge.

Little took the county judge seat after County Judge Carol Bush left. Prior to that he was the mayor in Red Oak, where he still resides.

Edge, out of Milford, was most recently the Ellis County Sheriff, appointed in 2017 to finish the term of Johnny Brown who resigned.

“There are a few reasons I have for seeking the office of county judge,” Edge said in a statement earlier this week.

“One is the handling of the COVID pandemic by all levels of our government.

“I’m not a COVID denier; I’m not an anti-vaxxer, but I am a constitutional conservative, and I don’t think the government reaction and mandates are over.

“I want to be sure that we remember the United States and Texas Constitutions when making decisions concerning this.

“With all the change taking place in this country and state, I want to be sure that the ideas that built this great country and great state are not forgotten, but instead, are adhered to in Ellis County.”

Another race to watch will be County Commissioner Precinct 4, where incumbent Kyle Butler has two challengers.

Much talk was bandied around town several months ago when the redistricting occurred and changed the Precinct 4 lines.

One resident considering running against Butler was Louis Ponder who got redistricted out of Precinct 4 for the county commissioner seat.

However, Ponder is running for Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace because the lines drawn for county commissioner and the lines drawn for justice of the peace are not the same in Ellis County.

Nevertheless, Butler ended up with two challengers: Rick Ridgeway of Red Oak and Dennis Deweerd of Midlothian.

In the Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 seat, Red Oak Police Officer Cody McKinney is running for that seat opposite Ponder, owner of Approved Home Health, and Danell Winter, a clerk, all three are from Midlothian.

Also running for the seat on the Democratic side is Robert Shelton, a fraud investigator who will face off with the winner of the March primary for the JP seat.

Current Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 Steve Egan is not seeking re-election for his seat this term.