Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

Candidate filing for seven Stephens County offices is open and underway, and all of the incumbents have filed for re-election in the primary election, scheduled for March 1, 2022. As of Friday, Dec. 3, the county clerk said no other candidates had filed.

Local offices up for re-election in 2022 are County Judge, County Commissioners – Precinct 2, County Commissioner – Precinct 4, County Clerk, Treasurer, Justice of the Peace and District Clerk. The following incumbents have filed for re-election:

• County Judge — Michael Roach
• County Commissioners – Precinct 2 — Mark McCullough
• County Commissioner – Precinct 4 — Eric O’Dell
• County Clerk — Jackie Ensey
• Treasurer — Sharon Trigg
• Justice of the Peace and– Steve Spoon
• District Clerk — Christie Coapland

The deadline to file to run for any of the offices is Monday, Dec. 13. Candidates seeking the nomination of the Democratic or Republican Party for a county office must file a candidate application with the county chair for the specific party. In Stephens County, the Republican Party Chair is Chuck Cook and the Democratic Party Chair is Tom Thompson. Additionally, candidates must pay a filing fee or present a petition in lieu of filing fee to the county clerk.

For more detailed information about filing for candidacy, click here to see the Secretary of State’s Candidate Guide.

Filing is also open to run for the offices of State Representative, State Senator and U.S. Representative. Stephens County is in newly redistricted districts for both of those offices.

Stephens County is in the Texas House of Representatives District 60, which currently includes Stephens, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Eastland, Shackelford, Palo Pinto and Hood counties, and is represented by Glenn Rogers. However, that district was reconfigured in the recent redistricting by the Texas Legislature, and the new District 60 will include only Stephens, Palo Pinto and Parker counties. According to the Texas Secretary of State’s website, two people have filed to run as the Republican Party candidate for District 60: Rogers and Kit Marshall, the mayor of Aledo. There are no Democratic Party candidates.

For the State Senate, Stephens County has been moved from District 28, which is currently represented by Charles Perry, to District 10, which will include Stephens, Shackelford, Palo Pinto, Callahan, Brown, Johnson and parts of Parker and Tarrant counties. According to the Secretary of State’s office, the only candidate who has filed to run for the newly reconfigured District 10 is Phil King, who is the current State Representative for District 61.

For the U.S. House of Representatives seat, Stephens County has been put in a different district than it has been in. Currently, the county is split, with the southern half in District 11, represented by August Pfluger, and the northern half in District 19, represented by Jodey Arrington.

Pfluger and Arrington will continue to represent their respective districts through the end of 2022. But, beginning with the March 2022 primaries, local voters will be voting for representatives in the reconfigured District 25, which includes Stephens, Young, Jack, Palo Pinto, Eastland, Erath, Comanche, Hood and Somervell counties, and parts of Parker, Callahan, Tarrant and Johnson counties.

Roger Williams represents the current District 25, which includes Bosque, Burnet, Coryell, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Lampasas, and Somervell counties and parts of Bell, Erath, Hays, Tarrant, and Travis counties. According to the Secretary of State’s office, Williams is the only candidate who has filed for the office.

Other offices that are up for re-election in 2022 include Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, Railroad Commissioner 2 and others. Candidates seeking to run for election in any of those offices must file their applications with the state party chair.