Gregg Co. voters pick Republicans

REP. TOMMY MERRITT Gregg County residents voted yes for three Republican candidates on the local, state and national level.

Voters picked Maxey Cerliano, Gregg County sheriff, to serve a third term; Tommy Merritt, District 7 representative, for his seventh term; and Louie Gohmert, District 1 U.S. congressman, for his second term.

According to final numbers from the Gregg County Elections Administration Office, Cerliano, the incumbent candidate, received 29,434 votes, or 71.1 percent of the vote, while Bobby White, Democratic challenger, received 11,956 votes, or 28.9 percent of the vote.

Cerliano said voter support was appreciated.

"Any time you win with more than 70 percent of the vote, that is a huge victory," Cerliano said. "With the dynamics of this election, I am just gratified to earn this overwhelming vote of confidence for myself and my staff."

Cerliano said he looks forward to serving the residents of Gregg County for another four years.

Cerliano began his law enforcement career as an officer with Kilgore Police Department in 1978 and moved through the ranks from patrol to the criminal investigation division, where he was promoted to lieutenant, then captain and finally to assistant police chief in 1996.

"When Maxey came to me in 2000 and announced that he would run for sheriff, I hated the thought of losing him but I understood his call to public service and desire to be sheriff of Gregg County," said Ronnie Moore, Kilgore Police Department director of public safety.

"Maxey is not only a good friend, but a good officer that everybody respects. I wish I still had him, but he does a great job with the duties he has with the jail over there and in criminal investigation."

Moore said Cerliano has given a lot to the police department and the sheriff 's office in his law enforcement career, including the paperwork system formulated by Cerliano that is used today.

In 2000 Gregg County voters elected Cerliano sheriff. He was re-elected in 2004.

During this campaign, Cerliano named continued leadership and accountability for Gregg County Sheriffs' Department as the most important issues.

District 7 voters made it to the polls in droves and re-elected Tommy Merritt to his seventh term as the district's state representative.

Merritt was challenged by Libertarian Joey R. Stroman, but took 87.9 percent of the total Gregg County vote with 29,471 votes to Stroman's 4,055 votes, or 12.1 percent with all 24 precincts reporting.

"I am very happy. My family and I appreciate the outstanding support of District 7 residents and neighbors — especially Kilgore," Merritt said. "I am looking forward to serving my seventh term."

Voters for District 1 U.S. representative also created a landslide victory for Republican incumbent Louie Gohmert.

Gohmert garnered 89.71 percent of the total vote — or 30,777 votes — against independent candidate Roger Owen, who carried away only 3,529 votes.

"It never ceases to be an honor; to win like this is quite humbling," Gohmert said. "This win re-energizes me to keep on serving the people I love in East Texas."

Gohmert said this term could be a tough one because of "notions on the national level."

"We will continue our efforts to represent and serve East Texas." Gohmert said.

Other elections included:

— Sabine Independent School District trustees in which John Kenna was uncontested for Place 1, earning 1,638 votes; Jamie Smitherman, also uncontested, earned 1,610 votes for place 2.

The race between Melissa Kingman and incumbent Tony Raymond for Place 6 resulted in a win for Raymond with 1,029 votes over Kingman's 1,015 votes.

The contest between Todd Gibbs and Stephen Woodfin resulted in a win for Gibbs who garnered 1,166 votes to incumbent Woodfin's 1,024.

— Bob Barbee, Gregg County Precinct 3 commissioner, was uncontested and he collected 8,460 votes;

— James Plumlee, Precinct 1 constable, got 10,674 votes;

— Billy Fort, Precinct 2 constable, took home 8,556 votes;

— Bill Echart, Precinct 3 constable, garnered 8,347 votes;

— Robby Cox, Precinct 4 constable, earned 5,678 votes;

— A proposition on the ballot for Gladewater Independent School District failed with 796 yes votes to 513 no votes;

— Jack Carter, Place 3 justice in the 6th Court of Appeals, got 18,249 votes;

— Bill Jennings, district judge, received 30,530 votes;

— Carl Dorrough, criminal district attorney, garnered 29,677 votes.;

— Kirk Shields, county tax assessor collector, took home 31,442 votes;

— Charles Davis, Precinct 1 commissioner, earned 10,718 votes;

— In the race for Place 4 judge on the Criminal Court of Appeals, Paul Womack took 27,340 votes, over the 12,452 garnered by J.R. Molina and the 842 taken by Dave Howard;

— In the contest for Place 9 Court of Criminal Appeals, Cathy Cochran took 28,956 votes over the 3,353 garnered by William Strange, III;

— The race for District 8 State Board of Education reaped Barbara Cargill 28,639 votes over the 3,763 earned by Kim Stroman and the 22 that went to Linda Ellis;

— Chief Justice in the 12th Court of Appeals went to Jim Worthen with 29,829 votes;

— Railroad Commissioner votes went to Michael L. Williams with 26,871 votes over the 13,004 votes earned by Mark Thompson and the 865 votes garnered by David Floyd;

— Supreme Court Chief Justice went to Wallace B. Jefferson with 28,066 votes versus the 13,038 earned by Jim Jordan and the 791 voted received by Tom Oxford;

— Supreme Court Justice Place 7 went to Dale Wainwright with 26,066 votes over the 13,903 garnered by Sam Houston and the 771 taken by David Smith;

— Supreme Court Justice Place 8 went to Phil Johnson with 27,009 votes over Linda Reyna Yanez's 12,809 votes and the other 820 votes that went to Drew Shirley;

— Judge, Criminal Court of Appeals, Place 3, went to Tom Price with 26,615 over the 13,231 received by Susan Strawn and the other 726 won by Matthew E. Eilers; and

— United States Senator John Cornyn won with 29,132 votes to the 12,180 garnered by Rick Noriega and the 565 won by Yvonne Adams Schick.

Straight ticket voting totaled: Republican, 16, 847; Democrat, 8,428; Libertarian, 44; and Independent, 460.