By Joe Reavis
Staff Writer
Area voters followed the pattern set across Texas last week, giving the nod to Sen. Ted Cruz in the Republican Presidential Primary and Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presidential Primary.
The primary elections to decide political party nominees were conducted Tuesday, March 1, dubbed Super Tuesday with voting in 13 states and one territory. Runoff elections, where needed, are set for May 24.
In getting the Republican nod for president, Cruz of Texas received 43.75 percent of the vote, a tally of 1.24 million, to best Donald Trump with 757,628 votes (26.74 percent). Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida finished third with 502,227 votes (17.73 percent). Also on the ballot were Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Dr. Ben Carson, each receiving about 4.2 percent of the total.
The Democratic Primary saw Clinton earn 934,999 votes (65.21 percent) to 475,561 (33.16 percent) cast for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Depending on the addresses, GOP voters cast ballots in any of three primaries to select nominees to the U.S. House of Representatives. Although incumbents were challenged within their party, all three advance to the general election in November without a runoff.
Sam Johnson, District 3, defeated three challengers by winning 65,228 votes (74.61 percent), John Ratcliffe, District 4, fended off two challengers by earning 76,973 votes (76.97 percent) and Pete Sessions, District 32, beat three hopefuls by winning 49,632 votes (61.43 percent).
On the Democratic side, Adam Bell received 14,223 votes (60.35 percent) to beat Michael Filak (9,342 votes, 39.64 percent) and the right to face Johnson in the fall for the District 3 seat. Sessions and Ratcliffe are unopposed in November.
The GOP must conduct a runoff to determine the nominee for State Representative, District 33. John Keating led a 3-way race with 9,761 votes (37.63 percent) to edge Justin Holland, 8,532 votes (32.9 percent). Keating and Holland will face each other in a runoff. Dropping out, barely, was Lorne Liechty who received 7,640 votes (29.46 percent).
For full story see The Wylie News at http://www.etypeservices.com/Wylie%20NewsID245/default.aspx
