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Following the March 3 Republican primary election in Williamson County, Jeff Mayes and David McDonald advanced to the runoff for the Williamson County Precinct 2 commissioner seat.
Precinct 2 covers most of Leander and Liberty Hill as well as portions of Cedar Park and Austin.
The background
McDonald won 46.06% of the votes, amounting to 5,837 ballots cast, and Mayes received 29.48% of votes, or 3,736 ballots cast, according to the Williamson County Elections Department.
No Democratic candidates ran for the position. This means the winner of the runoff will be unopposed in November.
What you need to know
There are 19 early voting locations in Williamson County, and 30 election day voting locations.
Voters can cast their ballot at any polling location in the county during early voting and on election day.
Early voting runs from May 18-22, and runoff election day is May 26.
Read Q&A responses provided by the candidates ahead of the primary below.
Commercial Real Estate Broker, Former High School Agricultural Science Teacher
What would your top priorities be if elected?
Lower taxes through smarter spending, ensuring growth pays for itself and there is a predictable process, helping secure regional long-term water supplies, supporting law enforcement and first responders, and restoring integrity and local control so county decisions reflect residents’ values—not bureaucracy or special interests.
What are the biggest challenges facing the county?
Rapid growth. While growth brings opportunity, it strains roads, emergency services, and infrastructure. The county must protect private property rights, evolve emergency services to better align with growth, expand and maintain roads, while keeping taxes as low as possible.
What projects are most important for the county to focus on for the future?
Road expansion and maintenance, public safety infrastructure, regional long-term water supply planning. The county should partner with developers on roadway improvements, leverage public-private partnerships and innovative financing tools, and ensure new development helps fund infrastructure without increasing the tax burden on residents.
Transportation Consultant, CAPCOG, 34 years public service to include, City Council, Austin PD, TxDOT, USMC
What would your top priorities be if elected?
Using my experience from serving on City Council to lower property taxes, supporting the Sheriff's Department and increase staffing to meet the demands of the county, provide solutions to fix traffic congestion without adding additional toll roads, listen to and represent the residents of Precinct 2, stop government overreach.
What are the biggest challenges facing the county?
Addressing the needs of the county while working to lower the property tax rate and maintain the level of service our residents deserve. Working with the development community to ensure the infrastructure can support new growth and development, protect our water resources by improving our conservation through drought tolerant landscaping.
What projects are most important for the county to focus on for the future?
Roadway projects are crucial to improving our residents' quality of life by reducing congestion and crashes. With the rapid growth of our county and increase in population our criminal justice system must keep up. Investing in a medical examiner's office, increasing jail capacity, addressing increased demand in mental health needs.
