Early voting for Democratic, Republican primaries begins Tuesday

Vote

For early voting locations:

www.tarrantcounty.com/en/elections/Early-Voting-Information.html

Voters who want to cast early ballots in March 6 Republican and Democratic primaries get begin to do so on Tuesday.

There are plenty of choices for voters to consider on the primary ballot, particularly on the Democratic side because more candidates have jumped into this year’s contests than in the recent past.

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Nevertheless, the Republican ballot has even more competition as the tug-of-war between conservative and moderate establishment candidates continues to churns, especially for state and Congressional legislative seats.

Locally, the most contested race is for a successor to Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Barton of Ennis. Barton’s decided against seeking re-election after photos and sexually-suggestive messages were shared online by an intimate partner in an extramarital affair.

Barton’s departure from the race left a rare open Congressional seat without an incumbent. The district that covers parts of Tarrant and most of Eliis and Navarro counties has drawn 16 candidates, 11 Republicans and five Democrats.

Among the District 6 candidates is Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Ron Wright, who was formerly Barton’s chief of staff.

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Wright resigned as tax assessor-collector although he continues to serve until a replacement is chosen. His resignation set off a contest for the tax assessor-collector post. High-profile GOP candidates for that post are former NBC news anchorman Mike Snyder and Trasa Robertson Cobern, a Hurst City Councilwoman and daughter of Duck Dynasty star Uncle Si.

Other GOP candidates for the post are Wendy Burgess and Rick Barnes. Olliephine “Ollie” Anderson is running as a Democrat.

One of the most highly watched races is the rematch between GOP incumbent Charlie Geren and challenger Bo French for state representative of District 99. Geren, who has been a top lieutenant of outgoing Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, beat French by 16 percentage points two years ago.

French, who is aligned with tea party conservatives such as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, is blames his defeat largely on subterfuge by a Geren campaign worker. Geren has denied knowledge of the occurrence.