Primary Election Night: A Roundup

The election has just begun for Eddie Rodriguez and Lulu Flores -- after outpacing the field Tuesday night , the two State House District 51 front-runners will face off in an April runoff to succeed retiring Rep. Glen Maxey. (There's no GOP opponent in November.) Flores finished with 38.3% of the vote, Rodriguez with 23.4%; the spoiler role belonged to ex-County Commissioner Marcos de Leon, who had 18%.

Rodriguez, who as Maxey's chief of staff has positioned himself as the heir apparent, was upbeat despite finishing farther behind Flores than many anticipated. "It's been a grassroots campaign, a lot of small individual contributions, and we've been outspent 3-to-1," he said. "I'm happy to have the opportunity to continue to spread our positive message."

Flores, who led throughout the evening, felt much the same way. "I'm really excited, and so are our supporters. People are really excited about this campaign; we're talking about the issues people in District 51 respond to."

The other contested House races in Travis County were in the new District 50 in the northeast, where county sheriff's deputy Jim Sylvester easily outpaced Fidel Acevedo on the Democratic side. "It's been a great experience," Sylvester said, noting that he'd walked two precincts that day. "I've lived up there for a long time, and I've never had a visit from a politician before. But people are really eager to get involved."

On the GOP side, former legislator Bob Richardson led his three challengers, but the race for second -- and a spot beside Richardson in the runoff -- was neck-and-neck all night. Prosecutor Jack Stick ended up beating businesswoman Kris Gillespie by just 90 votes, to finish with 25.2% to Richardson's 32.7%.

As for the state Senate, much of South Austin -- now part of Sen. Jeff Wentworth's District 25 -- found itself held hostage to the madness in San Antonio. As of press time, with about 60% of precincts reporting, Wentworth led his opponent, state Rep. John Shields, 55% to 44%. Elsewhere in the outlying areas, prosecutor Dan Gattis (45.6%) and engineer John Whitworth (38.7%) will face off in a runoff for the new House District 20 in Williamson County; and incumbent Rep. Rick Green easily bested challenger Randy Robinson in Hays County.

As for the U.S. congressional delegation, perennial candidate Jennifer Gale managed to pull almost 10% of the vote against incumbent Lloyd Doggett; San Marcos lawyer Corby Windham earned the right to challenge GOP incumbent Rep. Ron Paul ; and former Williamson County district judge John Carter will face Houston businessman Peter Wareing in the runoff for the new, heavily GOP congressional District 31, stretching from Round Rock to Houston via College Station.