NEW COUNTY JUDGE WILL BE A FAMILY MAN No matter which of the runoff candidates for county judge the voters decide upon, they will be getting a family man. Both of the candidates are proud of their families. (LEFT) Frontrunner Aurelio "Keter" Guerra with 23.82% of the primary vote is flanked by campaign helpers Julie Blanco, his wife, Delia Guerra and another helper, Lorie Hernandez. (RIGHT) Trailing closely was John Gonzales, pictured with his wife, Janie Moreno Gonzales, son, Juan F. Gonzales III, and daughter, Selissa. John had 21.30% of the primary vote. Guerra, who is originally from Lasara, lives in Sebastian. Gonzales, who is originally from Raymondville, lives in Lasara. All five candidates for Willacy County Judge had their supporters and 3,342 voters cast ballots in the race which will be decided in an April runoff between Aurelio "Keter" Guerra, Jr. and John Gonzales, Jr.

Guerra led with 796 votes; Gonzales was second with 712 votes and Annette Hinojosa narrowly missed making the runoff with 707 votes. Eloy Castaneda had 579 votes and Emilio"Jr." Vera trailed with 546 votes.

The race was a clean, hard fought one and supporters of all the candidates should be proud of the effort their favorite made. Now comes the run off and since neither of the front runners came even close to the 50.01 percent majority needed to win, both Guerra and Gonzales still have their work cut out for them.

The task is to convince some of the 1,834 voters who went for one of the other three candidates to get over their disapointment and to vote again in the runoff. There are always fewer votes cast in runoff elections so whoever works the hardest will likely be our new county judge.

In other local races, Migdalia Lopez got 2,088 votes (65.01%) to 1,124 votes, (34.99%) for Juan Guerra, for District Judge 197.

In the State Representative race Tara Rios Ybarra got 1,947 votes (61.25%) to J.M. Lozano 1,232 votes (38.75%) although Lozano beat Ybarra district wide and will be the new State Rep.

Noe Loya won the Pct. 2 County Commissioners race by a very narrow margin with 428 votes to 398 votes for his opponent, Thomas "Tommy" Rains, Jr.

And in the Pct. 4 County Commissioners race there will be a run off between Dora Perez who got 383 votes (41.59%) to 285 votes for Oscar Garcia, Jr. (30.94%). Hilario "Larry" Rincones had 253 votes.

For Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Yesenia Rosas led with 166 votes (28.14%) to Apolinar "Polo" Gracida, Jr. 156 votes (26.44%) Joel Juarez had 109 votes, Roy Hernandez had 82 votes and Jesus "Jesse" Coy trailed with 77 votes. There will be a runoff between Rosas and Gracida.

Justice of the Peace, Pct. 3, the incumbent, Juan Silva, Jr. had 326 votes (58.32%) to Zacarias "Zack" Gonzales 233 votes, (41.68%).

Justice of the Peace, Pct. 4, Juan Salinas, Jr., had 544 votes (60.71%) to win over Cynthia Cortez Guajardo 240 votes (26.79%) and Joel Robles 112 votes (12.50%).

Constable , Pct. 5 - Unexpired Term, Mario R.

Salazar won with 186 votes to 173 votes for Leonel Cantu, Jr. Ybarra wins