GISD voters re-elect Smith-Wright, choose Brown

Gonzales Independent School District voters re-elected one trustee — Josie Smith-Wright — and elected a new one — Naomi A. Brown — Saturday, May 4, in complete but unofficial returns.

Meanwhile, challenger Mariah Jordan was declared the winner on Monday, May 6, for the Gonzales City Council District 2 seat over incumbent Sherri Tumlinson Koepp and fellow challenger Johnnie Ross Hunt.

Gonzales ISD

Smith-Wright, the District 4 trustee and board secretary, jumped out to a 106-75 lead in early and absentee voting totals and withstood a push by challenger and pastor David Schautteet Jr. on election day to win by a final margin of 134-115. She has held the position for 21 years and will begin her eighth term on the board. She is the executive director of the Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members.

However, incumbent District 7 trustee Sandra Gorden, who was seeking her third term on the board, fell behind Brown, 84-34, after early and absentee voting and was unable to gain any more ground, as Brown, an assistant vice president and loan officer for Sage Capital Bank, won the seat by a large 114-47 margin. Gorden is also employed as a math teacher by Shiner Catholic School.

Brown’s election means that now two of the seven GISD trustees are employed by Sage Capital Bank, with the other being District 5 trustee and board president Ross Hendershot III, who serves as the bank’s chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Gonzales City Council

Jordan, a homebuying advisor, had 92 early and absentee votes, while Koepp, a clinical informatics nurse at Gonzales Healthcare Systems, had 63 and Hunt, who is retired, had 24. After election day voting was tallied, Jordan led with 125 votes, while Koepp had 86 and Hunt had 35.

To be elected, Jordan had to receive one more vote than 50 percent of the total votes cast. There had been several outstanding mail-in ballots (which had to be postmarked no later than May 4) and the outcome of those could have resulted in a forced June 15 runoff between Jordan and Koepp.

However, none of those mail-in ballots were received as of Monday, May 6, so Elections Administrator Gwen Schaefer called the election Monday night.

Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District

Incumbents went 1-for-2 in the GCUWCD races on Saturday as Precinct 4 board member and secretary-treasurer Barry Miller defeated challenger John Armstrong, 117-107. Miller had an 83-62 lead after early and absentee ballots were counted and withstood a late rally on election day by Armstrong.

Challenger Glenn Glass defeated incumbent Precinct 5 board member and vice president Kermit Thiele, 213-141. Glass had a 153-107 lead after early and absentee voting and was all but assured victory after that as only 94 votes were cast on election day and 60 of those went to Glass, who along with Armstrong was part of a coalition called the Water Protection Association of Gonzales, Texas.