Today is Election Day in Texas and 13 other states.

Voters will cast their ballots in the Republican and Democratic presidential primary elections. Each party primary also includes races to determine nominees for U.S. Senate, U.S. Representative seats, statewide offices and for a handful of county level offices.

Murphy residents can vote from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at Murphy Community Center, 205 N. Murphy Road. Other nearby sites are Smith Public Library, 300 Country Club Road in Wylie, and Parker City Hall, 5700 E. Parker Rd.

At the top of ballots are candidates seeking presidential nominations and each party has an ample number of hopefuls.

In the GOP Primary, President Donald Trump faces six opponents: Roque “Rocky” Guerra, Zoltan G. Istvan, Matthew Matern, Bob Ely, Joe Walsh and Bill Weld.

Seeking the Democratic nomination for president, as listed on ballots, are Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigeig, Rocque “Rocky” de la Fuente, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard, John K. Delaney, Marianne Williamson, Cory Booker, Robby Wells, Julian Castro, Michael Bennet, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.

A good number of presidential candidates, such as Democrats Harris, Gabbard, Williamson, Booker, Castro and Yang, have dropped out of the race but their names still appear on primary ballots.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn faces three challengers in the Republican Primary, Mark Yancey, Dwayne Stovall and Virgil Bierschwale. On the Democratic side, the seven hopefuls running for the U.S. Senate nomination are Chris Bell, Jack Daniel Foster, Jr., Victor Hugo Harris, Sema Hernandez, Adrian Ocegueda, Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, Royce West and Amanda Edwards.

District 3 incumbent U.S. Rep. Van Taylor is unopposed in the Republican Primary but will face Lulu Seikaly or Sean McCaffity from the Democratic Primary in the General Election.

For the District 4 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican incumbent John Ratcliff is unopposed in the primary and will face Democrat Russell Foster, also unopposed, in the General Election.

First term incumbent Candy Noble is unopposed in the Republican Primary for state Representative, District 89, and will run against either Democratic candidate Ray Ash or John Cocks.

In state Representative District 33, GOP incumbent Justin Holland does not have a primary opponent and there is no Democrat seeking the office.

Moving down the ballot, incumbent Collin County Tax Assessor Ken Maun is challenged by Scott Grigg in the Republican Primary. There is no Democratic candidate for the office.

A race developed at the filing deadline for County Commissioner, Precinct 3, when longtime Allen Mayor Steve Terrell challenged incumbent Darrell Hale for the Republican nomination. Hale was elected in 2018 to fill an unexpired term.

Incumbent county GOP candidates running unopposed in the primary are Sheriff Jim Skinner and Constable Gary Edwards, Pct. 2.

Also on primary ballots are seats on the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, Railroad Commissioner and District Courts, and a number of non-binding propositions.

On Republican Party ballots are nine propositions addressing prayer in public schools, the right to own guns, taxpayer-funding lobbying, border security, healthcare decisions for children under the age of 18, sex change procedures, preservation of historical sites, artifacts and buildings, purging voter rolls, bail set in criminal cases and term limits for state legislators.

Democratic Party ballots include 11 propositions dealing with universal health care, student debt, climate change, economic security for workers, discrimination, freedom from violence, affordable housing, state election holiday, fair criminal justice system, immigration reform and equitable taxation.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]