In a surprise announcement following the Tuesday commissioners court meeting, Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham said he’s resigning effective as soon as the 2026 primary elections are over.
The primary election is Tuesday, Mar. 3.
Cunningham said he’s resigning to take the position of County Relations Officer with the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) in Austin.
He told The Highlander, "It's a program where we work with counties to make sure that they know what resources are available to the Texas Association of Counties, and it could be working with the insurance carriers. It can be working with HR or law enforcement or IT. … When the county has a problem, they would call me and then I would put them in touch with the correct or appropriate department.”
He will be one of four county relations officers at TAC and will work mostly with West Texas counties.
Cunningham became Llano County judge in January 2019. He had said in September that he wouldn’t seek a third term this year.
During his tenure he oversaw recovery from the devastating 2018 flooding of the Llano River, which killed two people and caused millions in damage including wiping out the RR 2900 bridge; the controversial quarrel over books in the Llano County Library System, which went all the way to the Supreme Court (which declined to hear it); and the suit filed by Suzette Baker, a librarian who was fired for refusing to take some of the books from the Kingsland library shelves.
Cunningham said his successor in the 10 months between the primary election and swearing-in of the newly-elected judge would be chosen by commissioners. It’s a situation that was recently faced in Burnet County, and while unusual, “isn’t unheard of,” Cunningham said.
He said he waited until after the primary election because there’s no Democrat candidate for the position, so in effect the winner of the Republican primary will be the new county judge anyway.
The two candidates in the Republican primary are Richard Kepp and Rob T. Hardy. Neither was available for comment immediately after Cunningham’s announcement.
Cunningham said the opportunity to work with the TAC couldn’t be ignored.
“I’m just not ready for full retirement,” he said. “I do want to spend more time with my family and grandchildren and daughter and son-in-law. But this was an opportunity that, when it came before me. I did not want to pass it up” Cunningham was already a retired lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety when he was elected county judge. Now, he said, he’s happy with what he’s accomplished in his two terms.
“I would say that that I’m leaving behind a good history of Llano County working together,” he said.”And it doesn’t matter if it’s the law enforcement, the commissioners, any other elected official, we’ve got a cohesive group right now, and we’ve done a lot of great things for Llano County, and I’m proud to have been a part of that, to build on what the previous commissioners or previous judges have done.”
One of the draws of the new job, he admitted, is that it’s a remote job and he won’t have to move to Austin. Cunningham plans to stay in Llano County.
