Incumbent Brigid Shea came out on top in the race for Travis County commissioner Precinct 2, and two candidates for the Precinct 4 spot are headed to a runoff.
Unofficial results leave Shea with slightly more than 57% of the vote. Since no Republican candidates ran, Shea has effectively secured reelection for a fourth term.
The commissioners court is made up of five elected officials who set the county’s tax rate and manage spending of a roughly $2.2 billion budget. The county’s biggest line item expense is the jail, but the budget includes plenty of other responsibilities, such as roads and parks, health care and housing for low-income residents, emergency services, elections and affordable child care.
In an election night interview with KUT News, Shea said she wants to continue making progress on water conservation and clean-energy initiatives — and she wants to push other government leaders to do the same.
“None of it is rocket science, none of it is wildly expensive. It’s all doable,” she said. “And that’s the largest part of the reason I ran, is I feel like we have to get really serious about addressing climate change.”
Civil rights attorney Amanda Marzullo fell second to Shea with nearly 31% of the vote. In a statement, Marzullo said her campaign made it clear that many voters are “fed up” with county leadership and are looking for change.
“After knocking more than 15,000 doors, we heard disappointment about transparency, accountability, and decisions affecting our community — from civil rights to corporate handouts with Tesla,” she said. “I’m grateful to everyone who helped elevate those conversations, and the fight for a county government that works for all of us, not the wealthy or well off, continues.”
Rick Astray-Caneda had slightly more than 6% of the vote in the Precinct 2 race; Reese Ricci Armstrong had just above 5%.
The race for Precinct 4 now heads to a runoff between former Travis County Precinct 4 Constable George Morales and Del Valle ISD Trustee Susanna Ledesma-Woody.
Morales is ahead with just about 37% of unofficial voting totals. Ledesma-Woody trails slightly behind with close to 36%. The two remaining candidates — Ofelia Maldonado Zapata and Gavino Fernandez — had roughly 21% and 6% of the vote, respectively.
The runoff election will be held May 26. Since no Republican candidates are running for Precinct 4, whoever wins will run unopposed in November.
Ledesma-Woody said, in the coming months, she will continue campaigning and stressing the difference between her and Morales.
“I think that the biggest thing is whether people want somebody with policy and governance experience or somebody with policing experience, and I think that’s going to be the huge difference between the two of us,” she said.
Morales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.