With final votes tallied, Jose Garza received 69.84% of the vote to win the county district attorney race, while Andy Brown won the county judge race with 69.59% of the vote.
Update: 10:50 p.m.
As Election Day votes continue to be counted, Democratic candidates continue to hold healthy leads in countywide races across the board. José Garza has won the District Attorney race, with 69.97% of the vote against Republican challenger Martin Harry.
In the county judge race, Andy Brown has 69.73% of the vote, earning a victory against Republican Michael Lovins,
Original story
After early votes were tallied in Travis County, José Garza is on the way to being the next district attorney.
Garza received 70.98% of the vote in the heavily Democratic Travis County, or 367,784 total votes, compared to 29.02% of early votes for Republican challenger Martin Harry, or 150,354 total. In July, Garza defeated incumbent District Attorney Margaret Moore with 68.1% of the vote.
"This year the residents of Travis County have sent a clear and resounding message that they expect a criminal justice system that treats people fairly, regardless of their income, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of their immigration status," Garza said. "... One of the ways that we need to do that is we have to be clear that if a law enforcement officer engages in misconduct, if he breaks the law here in Travis County, he will be held accountable."
The county will also have a new face at county judge. Sarah Eckhardt vacated her position when she chose to run for the Texas Senate and ultimately won the race to represent District 14 at the Capitol. Sam Biscoe has been serving as the interim judge since, and he will be replaced by the winner of the Nov. 3 election.
Andy Brown, the Democratic nominee, is headed toward a win. He received 366,519 early votes, or 70.82%. Republican challenger Michael Lovins had 29.18% of the early vote.
"My number one priority is criminal justice reform ... I'll be working from the very beginning trying to reform our criminal justice system here in Travis County, invest more in mental health, invest more in behavioral health options and continue the work that I've done on the sobering center," Brown said. "So [I'll be] looking for additional ways to do that—to make smarter investments in our community so that our jail does not continue to be the single largest line item in our Travis County budget."
The Travis County Clerk's office is still counting votes from Election Day. According to the Travis County Clerk's Office, the unofficial number of early voters was 553,290, or 64.7% of the 855,175 registered voters in the county. The clerk's office said 50,558 voters had cast ballots on Election Day.
Other Travis County early vote results are listed below.
Sheriff
Sally Hernandez, D: 70.24% (396,811)
Raul Vargas, R: 29.76% (168,113)
Tax assessor-collector
Bruce Elfant, D 67.1% (379,688)
Marilyn Jackson, R: 27.65% (156,464)
Erica Lockwood, L: 5.25% (29,698)
District Judge: District 460
Selena Alvarenga, D: 70.92% (372,804)
Geoffrey Puryear, R: 29.08% (152,849)
Travis County Court at Law No. 9
Kim Williams, D: 82.1% (377,364)
Christopher David, L: 17.9% (82,252)
Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
Results are up to date as of 11 p.m. and are unofficial until they are canvassed and certified by the county clerk. Under Texas election law, the clerk accepts and counts mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by Nov. 4, if they were sent from inside the U.S., or Nov. 9, if they were sent from outside the U.S.
