Updated at 11:39 a.m. March 6, 2020
With all 255 Hidalgo County precincts reporting, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders led in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election with 16,683 votes, followed by Joe Biden with 15,877 and Michael R. Bloomberg with 15,106.
Biden, however, won the Texas Democratic primary race with 715,897 votes while Sanders came in second with 622,237.
In the county’s Republican primary, President Donald Trump garnered 11,457 votes. None of his GOP opponents came close.
Statewide, in the Republican primary, Trump led his GOP challengers with 1,889,130 votes.
In the race for U.S. Senator, Democrat Sema Hernandez led 11 other hopefuls with 12,951 votes in Hidalgo County. Statewide, however, Democrat Mary ‘MJ’ Hegar won the nomination with 412,897 votes, followed by Royce West, with 269,027 and Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, with 244,705. The winner will face incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who amassed 1,470,168 votes in the GOP primary.
For District 28 U.S. representative, Democratic challenger Jessica Cisneros edged incumbent Henry Cuellar, 7,157 to 6,135 votes in Hidalgo County. Districtwide, however, Cuellar won the nomination with 38,720 votes to Cisneros’ 35,964. Cuellar will face Republican Sandra Whitten on Nov. 3. Whitten garnered 1,804 votes in the county GOP primary and 20,635 in the district.
Democratic incumbent District 34 U.S. Rep. Filemon B. Vela led in Hidalgo County with 5,512 votes. Diego Zavala had 1,844 votes and Osbert Rodriguez Haro III, 468. Districtwide, Vela won the nomination with 39,233 votes, followed by Zavala, with 9,658 and Haro, 3,395.
For District 27 state senator, incumbent Democrat Eddie Lucio Jr. led the county with 11,883 votes. Challengers Sara Stapleton Barrera followed with 8,479 votes and Ruben Cortez with 3,414. Lucio will face Stapleton Barrera in a runoff election because he only amassed 30,849 votes, or 49.78%, in the district, compared to Stapleton Barrera’s 22,062 and Cortez’s 9,059.
In the race for Hidalgo County sheriff, Democratic incumbent J.E. ‘Eddie’ Guerra won the Democratic nomination with 39,910 votes. Frank Guerrero received 17,605 votes and Raul Salinas, 6,356. In the Republican primary, Ezeqiel Jurado garnered 9,897 votes.
For Precinct 1 county commissioner, Democratic incumbent David L. Fuentes regained office with 11,841 votes compared to opponent Olga Noriega’s 4,939.
For Precinct 3 county commissioner, Democratic challenger Everardo “Ever” Villarreal defeated incumbent Joe Flores 10,025 votes to 9,942.
In the Precinct 3 constable race, Democratic incumbent Larry Gallardo won office with 11,092 votes. His opponent, Miguel Flores, received 7,247 votes.
Democratic incumbent A ‘JR’ Gaitan won the race for Precinct 4 constable, with 7,677 votes, defeating Eddie Badillo, who received 3,914 votes, and Elias Mora, 3,041.
For Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Place 1, Democratic incumbent Gilberto Saenz won with 6,768 votes to Juan J. Ramos Jr.’s 3,600.
In the Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Place 1 race, Sonia “Dr.” Treviño defeated Marco De Luna, 9,864 votes to 9,233.
For Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, Place 1, incumbent Charlie Espinoza led with 7,481, followed by Jaime Rene Chavana and Orlando “O.J.” Jiménez, who earned 4,279 and 3,260 votes, respectively.
In the race for Hidalgo County Democratic Party chairman, incumbent Norma Ramirez won office with 38,199 votes, compared to Kassandra Elejarza’s 18,067 votes.
A total of 379,658 people were registered to vote in Hidalgo County but only 69,637 ballots were cast.
