UPDATE:See LIVE results here.
Polls have closed in the Smith County Commissioner Precinct 3 runoff race.
The only race on the ballot was for Precinct 3 Commissioner after no single candidate received 50% of the vote in the primary election in March.
The Commissioner Precinct 3 area covers Lindale, Hideaway, Winona, part of the New Chapel Hill area, part of southeast Tyler and a small portion of Overton.
As of 3:45 p.m., the Smith County Elections Office reported 352 ballots have been cast on Election Day, bringing the total to 1,786, including early voting. Additionally, 106 mail-in ballots were reported.
About the race
Candidates include newcomer J. Scott Herod, who challenges the almost 15-year incumbent Terry Phillips for the Republican spot on the November ballot. In the primary, Herod received 827 more votes than Phillips for a total of 2,968 votes or 44.25%, while Phillips received 2,141 votes, or 31.92%. A third candidate, former Winona Mayor Rusty Smith, received 23.83% of the primary vote, according to election results.
The runoff winner determines which Republican candidate will face Democrat Edith Wilson in November.
Terry Phillips
Phillips took office in January 2009. He said his knowledge, experience and conservative beliefs bring balance to the court.
Phillips was born in Longview and moved to Tyler in 1974. He enrolled at John Tyler High School as a senior and graduated the same year. Phillips attended Tyler Junior College, earning an associate degree in petroleum technology. He went on to study supervision and government at UT Tyler. He worked in the oil and gas industry until the mid-1980s, when he began acquiring real estate and managing properties today.
Phillip has hundreds of hours of continuing education and business and real estate experience. He has a record of voting in favor of taxpayers and said that is how he will continue to vote.
“I know the burden on the taxpayer, and I spend the county money just like I do my own, and I am very tight with my money,” Phillips said in a previous interview with the Tyler Morning Telegraph. “I operate the same way with the county.”
Phillips ran for office initially after he said the county commissioners gave themselves a pay raise. He felt that was an inappropriate decision and ran as a constitutional conservative.
“During that first term, I gave $48,000 of my salary back to the county,” Phillips said.
His opponents have expressed concern that Phillips’ son Lance, 40, has been arrested multiple times for disrupting the commissioners’ court. However, Phillips said he doesn’t control the actions of his adult children.
“I’m a voice for the taxpayer, and that’s what I want to continue to be,” Phillips said.
J. Scott Herod
Herod has driven the roads in Precinct 3, a largely rural area of Smith County, throughout his life.
After considering the role of county commissioners and the interests of community members, he studied the role and developed his skill set to fulfill the job duties effectively.
Herod earned a BBA in Management from Texas A&M University in 2000. From high school to his professional career in sales and finance, he participated in organizations with leadership hierarchies.
He said his background in large corporate finance and business skills make him uniquely qualified for the role of Precinct 3 county commissioner.
He started as a manager at Bank of America and became a senior vice president, supervising the operations of rural banking centers in Texas, Arizona and other states.
Part of his role involved working with large nonprofit organizations to collaborate with city and county government and the leadership of large companies on projects such as building construction.
He left Bank of America in 2012 to co-own APEC, Athlete Performance Enhancement Center, in Tyler. In 2014, he sold his stake in the fitness center and opened Cut Beef, where he runs his small business and ranch.
As a county commissioner, it is essential to communicate with diverse people neutrally, take complicated messages, and simplify them so people can understand.
“I’ll be the first guy to say when my skill sets are no longer with Smith County’s needs, I’ll step out of the way,” Herod said in a previous interview. “They won’t have to elect me out of the way.”
Turnout so far
One vote can make the difference in a local election. One Smith County commissioner’s seat will be replaced with a new face after challenger Christina Drewry bested incumbent Pam Frederick by just 95 votes in the March primary. Experts encourage registered voters to head to the polls and make their voice heard in who they want to see represent them in local government.
During the first four days of early voting, there were a total of 977 people who voted at the polls and 110 mail-in ballots received, for a total of 1,087 ballots cast.
No power at one polling place
There were four polling places on Election Day and one lost power but continued to function throughout the day, officials said.
At 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, the county reported that the Starrville Church of the Living God is still operating as a voting center despite a power outage.
Smith County Elections Administrator Michelle Allcon said the Starrville church lost power due to Tuesday morning’s storms but is still able to vote because all the equipment is running on backup batteries. They are bringing a small generator in just in case it is needed, she added.
Another runoff coming up
The Tyler City Council District 2 Runoff Election will be held June 15. Petra Hawkins and Stephen Dinger are on the ballot.
