Nearly 58% of registered Collin County voters took part in the Nov. 3 general election that will change leadership in Austin and send the first Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was elected in 1988.

According to complete, unofficial returns from Collin County Elections, local voters gave James Talarico a 55%-43% victory over Attorney General Ken Paxton, similar to his statewide margin.

County residents cast 460,900 ballots with 9,433 by mail, 374,676 in early voting and 76,791 on election day, Collin County Elections reported. Results are not official until canvassed.

In other top statewide races, Collin County voters favored Gina Hinojosa over Gov. Greg Abbott by more than 51% of the vote, Vicki Goodwin over Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Nathan Johnson over Mayes Middleton for Attorney General, Sarah Eckhardt over Comptroller Don Huffines, Benjamin Flores over Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, Clayton Tucker over Nate Sheets for Commissioner of Agriculture and Jon Rosenthal over Bo French in the contest for Railroad Commissioner.

Republican Congressman Keith Self was re-elected to a third term in the 3rd District even though he was narrowly outpolled in his home county of Collin by Democratic challenger Evan Hunt. Voters in Hunt, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Morris and Titus Counties gave Self an overall 169,243 to 151,667 edge, 52.70% to 47.30%.

“Exit polling from the midterms shows the American people are still with us when it comes to immigration,” Self said after the election. “If we want to save our country from the wrath of the Left’s globalist, pro-foreigner agenda, we must fortify our borders.”

Hunt said, “This campaign was always about service to our nation. We told the truth, showed up, listened and debated. We refused to cater to special interests or beg for money from big donors.  And we never hid from our neighbors.”

In the Texas House, District 33 Republican incumbent Katrina Pierson won reelection with 46,507 votes (55%), defeating Democrat Orlando Lopez, who received 37,467 votes (45%). The district includes portions of Plano, Richardson, Murphy and Rockwall.

District 67 Republican incumbent Jeff Leach had 42,566 votes (50.12%), narrowly beating Democrat Jordan Wheatley, who received 42,363 votes (49.88%). The district includes portions of Plano, Allen, McKinney, Princeton and Farmersville.

“Even as I celebrate this hard-fought victory, I recognize the devastating defeats Republicans suffered across Texas and our nation,” Leach said. “The voters have spoken — loudly and clearly. And we Republicans would be wise to listen.”

In District 89, Republican Rep. Candy Noble was defeated by Democrat Angie Carraway, 50.80% to 49.20%. Carraway got 44,156 votes to 42,764 for Noble. The district includes parts of Plano, Parker, Wylie, St. Paul, Lucas, Fairview, Lowry Crossing, Princeton, Lavon, Nevada and Josephine.

“The results of the election were not what we had worked for, not what we had planned, and not what we had expected,” Noble said. “But at the end of the day I’m so richly blessed, and I have no regrets. I worked to the very best of my abilities and consider it joy to have run and served.”

Also defeated was Republican Rep. Angie Chen Button in District 112. Democrat Zach Herbert polled 43,251 votes (53.56%) to Button’s 37,499 (46.44%).

Voters also rejected bond proposals from the county and college district.

Collin County Proposition A would have provided $296.5 million for court and detention facility projects, including improvements to court facilities, adult detention facilities, medical and mental health detention facilities and adult probation facilities.

It received 158,685 votes (37.41%), while 265,539 voters (62.59%) opposed it.

Collin County Proposition B failed by a narrower 51.67% (219,065) to 48.33% (204,907) margin. It would have provided $475 million for road improvement projects, including the design, construction, improvement and maintenance of non-tolled roads and bridges. The proposition also would have covered land and right-of-way acquisitions and participation in joint county-state and county-city projects.

Collin County Proposition C received 46.68% favorable votes (197,460) to 53.32% opposed (225,561).

It would have provided $6 million for parks and open space projects, including the acquisition, development, construction and improvement of park and open-space land and joint county-city projects.

The largest margin of defeat was for Collin County Proposition D, which was rejected 69.97% to 30.03% (294,202-126,279).

It would have provided $40 million for a new elections and records storage facility including space for storing and processing paper ballots adopted last year by the county. The facility would include elections offices and training space, election and equipment storage, and storage for county records and historical documents.

Collin College Proposition A failed 52.48% to 47.52% or 221,774 to 200,854.

The college district’s proposition would have authorized $600 million for workforce and academic expansions at the McKinney Campus, the Technical Campus in Allen, the Frisco Campus, the Wylie Campus, the Farmersville Campus and the Courtyard Center in Plano. 

The proposition also included funding for new facilities, including an Aviation Academy in McKinney, a new campus in Anna and a new campus in Royse City.

Also on the ballot in Collin County were elected officials including Criminal District Attorney Greg Willis, a Republican who was unopposed, Republican County Judge Chris Hill, who outpolled Democrat John R. Buster Brown 50.22% to 49.78% (217,401-215,538) and County Clerk Stacey Kemp, a Republican, who bested Democrat John Russell 215,913 (51.22%) to 205,598 (48.78%).

Republican Michael Slaughter was unopposed for Precinct 2 on the Collin County Commissioners Court while Democrat Julie Holmer beat Republican Shelby Williams 53.31% to 46.69% (56,177-49,198) for Precinct 4.

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