That blue island in the sea of red that is Travis County added some land last night, as the neighboring Hays County government made a dramatic flip from R to D. All three Republican incumbents on the commissioners court were swept from office – including County Judge Jim Powers, who was first elected in 1998 – completely reversing the court makeup from 4-1 GOP to 4-1 Dem. There is still room for Republicans in Hays, though – they won Precinct 5 constable, Precinct 4 justice of the peace, 428th District judge, and county clerk, although the latter two were by razor-thin margins, 1.2% and 0.6%, respectively. Dems took county court-at-law and criminal district attorney, the latter by just 99 votes. It’s definitely a divided county – the biggest percentage of the vote by any of those victors was 54.9.
This article appears in November 3 • 2006.