Over 13,000 votes were cast in Orange County in the Republican Primary on Tuesday and in early voting the two weeks before. The closest race was for the next Sheriff of Orange County to replace Keith Merritt who is retiring at the end of this year.
Jimmy Lane Mooney who has been serving as the Constable in Precinct 4 was the winner with 6,991 votes. His opponent Rob Strause, currently a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Office, received 6,457 votes.
Mooney who likes to be called Lane gives the glory to God for the victory and credits his team of thirty friends and family for their hard work to help him win the election. Mooney said the first issue he wants to address as sheriff is the shortage of deputies in the patrol division of the Sheriff’s Office. “I want to make sure those positions are filled so that way we can cut down on the lag time of our people responding to calls,” Mooney replied.
Mooney indicated there will be only minor changes in the Sheriff’s personnel when he takes office in January 2021. One change will be Captain Richard Howard over the Patrol Division moving to the Chief Deputy’s position. Mooney stated, “He’s going to be my number two-man.”
Another close race was for the judge’s position in the 163rd District Court. Local attorney Rex Peveto defeated another local attorney Michael Catt, 7,887 to 5,479. Judge Dennis Powell is retiring from that court.
Peveto spoke to KOGT late Tuesday night analyzing where he picked up the votes that carried him to victory. Peveto felt he got good support in Little Cypress where he currently lives and has served on the Little Cypress-Mauriceville School Board. He credited his wife working in the Bridge City School District with earning him some support in that area as well.
The Orange County Commissioners Court will remain unchanged following Tuesday’s Republican Primary. All three Republican incumbents won their races and will not have a Democrat opponent in the General Election in November.
County Judge John Gothia was appointed to be the head administrator for the county last year and is happy to now be the people’s choice. Gothia believes the future for Orange County is bright and he is glad to be a part of it. “Everybody’s working together to make it happen, and keeping this group together and me staying in the position I am now to continue that work, I’m just excited about doing it,” Gothia expressed to KOGT’s Gary Stelly Tuesday from his headquarters at Gopher Industrial.
Commissioner Kirk Roccaforte from Precinct 3 won his seat after being appointed to the position last year. Roccaforte identified the top priority for him and the Commissioners Court is drainage. “I think we’re all working real well together to get that done and keep that moving forward, but in the meantime we also have to keep the rest of the county working and keep doing the right things for the citizens and the constituents,” Roccaforte commented during KOGT’s Election Night coverage from Reel Cajun Restaurant.
Johnny Trahan the Commissioner from
Precinct 1 was the only member of the Court who ran unopposed in the primary
Tuesday. Commissioners Theresa Beauchamp
from Precinct 2 and Robert Viator in Precinct 4 are the remainder of the
current Commissioners Court.
Four constables were elected on Tuesday. Brad Frye won the only contested constable race over Sambo Carpenter, Jr. in Precinct 3 by a vote total of 3146-902. Frye thanked his supporters on KOGT from his headquarters at the Orange Boat Club. Lanny Claybar ran unopposed in Precinct 1, as did Jeremiah Gunter in Precinct 2 and Matt Ortego in Precinct 4. All four have no opponents for the General Election.
While locally the Republicans had the only candidates, there were almost 2400 votes cast in the Democratic Primary. Joe Biden was the top vote getter in Orange County as he was statewide in the Democratic presidential primary. Biden had 1148 votes, Bernie Sanders received 573, Mike Bloomberg got 487 and Elizabeth Warren 184.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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