Burnet County’s Terry Wilson upsets incumbent state rep
Terry Wilson greets supporters during the Burnet County Republican watch party March 1 at Riverbend Conference Center in Marble Falls. Wilson defeated state Rep. Marsha Farney for the GOP’s nomination for District 20. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
FROM STAFF REPORTS
MARBLE FALLS — A celebratory Terry Wilson thanked supporters and well-wishers March 1 as it became evident he had unseated the incumbent District 20 state representative.
“So many people worked so hard on this campaign,” he said after his arrival at the Burnet County Republican watch party at Riverbend Conference Center in Marble Falls. He had come from a similar event in Georgetown. “There are some who even put their businesses on hold so they could help me on this campaign.”
Wilson beat state Rep. Marsha Farney for the GOP nomination for District 20. Wilson took a commanding lead in Burnet and Milam counties, though Farney squeaked out 11 more votes from Williamson County.
District 20 represents Burnet and Milam counties as well as a portion of Williamson County.
Wilson is a retired U.S. Army colonel will more than 30 years of service.
Wilson earned 18,754 votes to Farney’s 15,809. He had a strong lead over Farney in Burnet County (5,736 to 3,214) and Milam County (2,074 to 1,640) while barely coming in behind her in Williamson County (10,955 to 10,944).
Wilson heads to the November general election. No Democrat filed to run for the District 20 representative seat.
In the race for the District 24 state senate seat, Dawn Buckingham and Susan King are headed to a runoff for the Republican nomination after capturing the top two spots in the six-person race. State Sen. Troy Fraser previously announced he was retiring from the senate after his current term and would not be seeking re-election.
The runoff is May 24.
The winner will face Democrat Virginia “Jennie Lou” Leeder in the November general election.
Andrew Murr was unopposed for the Republican nomination for the District 53 state representative seat as was Democrat Stephanie Lochte Ertel. They will face each other in the November general election.
As for the presidential race, Republicans in both Burnet and Llano counties threw their support behind U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
In Llano County, Cruz picked up 2,161 votes compared to businessman Donald Trump’s 1,977 votes. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida brought in 1,041 votes from Llano County.
Burnet County Republicans cast 4,026 votes for Cruz and 3,145 for Trump. Rubio picked up 1,573 votes in Burnet County.
On the Democratic side, Llano County voters hit the Hillary Clinton button 512 times and Bernie Sanders button 267 times. In Burnet County, voters casted 871 votes for Clinton and 576 for Sanders.
editor@thepicayune.com
