Llano County picks sheriff in GOP primary

Preliminary GOP primary election results indicate, Llano County has picked a new sheriff.
Marquis Cantu received 3,746 votes (60.45%) to defeat Les Hartman, who received 2,451 votes (39.55%), according to the Llano County Elections Office.
Hartman is an officer with Llano Police Department; Cantu served as the Pct. 1 Llano County justice of the peace.
Commissioner Runoff
In the Pct. 3 Llano County commissioner race, the top two vote-getters were Louis "Bull" Guthrie, 256 votes (31.53%) and Brent Richards, 360 votes (44.33%).
A third candidate in that Republican primary race, Karen Shaw, received 196 votes (24.14%).
A candidate must receive 50% of the vote to secure his party’s nomination. Guthrie and Richards will continue onto a primary runoff election for the GOP nomination. 
Since no Democrats filed to run for the position, the winner of the runoff is expected to be elected to the position in November.
Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace
The justice of the peace race for the Llano County precinct 1 position resulted in a win for Sam Silver, who received 1,179 votes (56.17%). She defeated his GOP primary opponent, Allen Fletcher. Fletcher received 920 votes (43.83%).

State Rep. Dist. 53 

Wes Virdell of Brady won the race for state representative in District 53. The district includes Bandera, Crane, Crockett, Edwards, Kerr, Kimble, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, Medina, Menard, Pecos, Real, Schleicher, Sutton and Upton counties.
Virdell received 24,026 (60.45%) votes to the 15,716 (39.55%) for Hatch Smith from Llano. The incumbent State Rep. Andrew Murr did not file for re-election. 
Virdell will face Democratic nominee Joe P. Herrera in the November general election.