Democratic challengers in three high-profile Williamson County races viewed their election night defeats as at least a start in the right direction – building a viable two-party system in a longtime Republican stronghold. Coming closest to winning was attorney Mike Grimes, who came within 300 votes of ousting Precinct 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman. “It’s a new day in Williamson County,” Grimes told the Chronicle. Braden Frame, campaign manager for attorney Jaime Lynn, who got 42% of the vote against County Attorney Jana Duty, concurred: “We’ve come so far; there has been so much momentum.”
A third candidate, Gregory Windham, got 33% against Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey.
At WilCo campaign headquarters, Democrats celebrated Diana Maldonado‘s victory over Bryan Daniel in the state representative District 52 race as confirmation they can and will win in WilCo. In turn, Maldonado praised other candidates for “making inroads.” Indeed, the Democrats – once a party non grata in WilCo – have decided to keep an office open here to prepare for future elections. “We’re going to have a permanent presence in Williamson County,” Grimes assured. Neither Duty nor Birkman was immediately available for comment, according to Duty campaign manager Vicki Vickers. See results at www.wilco.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1024.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 52
Diana Maldonado (D) 34,668 (48.6%)
Bryan Daniel (R) 33,821 (47.4%)
Lillian Simmons (L) 2,825 (4.0%)
COUNTY ATTORNEY
Jana Duty (R) 86,100 (57.7%)
Jaime M. Lynn (D) 63,008 (42.3%)
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, PRECINCT 1
Lisa Birkman (R) 14,356 (50.5%)
Mike Grimes (D) 14,071 (49.5%)
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, PRECINCT 3
Valerie Covey (R) 27,313 (61.3%)
Gregory Windham (D) 14,810 (33.3%)
James Andrews (L) 2,417 (5.4%)
This article appears in November 7 • 2008.