U.S. House District 3

Complete, Unofficial 3^rd District Totals from all counties:

Keith Self (Rep) — 169,243 (52.74%)

Evan Hunt (Dem) — 151,667 (47.26%)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Texas House District 33 (Collin & Rockwall Counties)

Katrina Pierson (Rep) — 46,507 (55.38%)

Orlando Lopez (Dem) — 37,467 (44.62%)

Texas House District 67

Jeff Leach (Rep) — 42,566 (50.12%)

Jordan Wheatley (Dem) — 42,363 (49.88%)

Texas House District 89

Candy Noble (Rep) — 42,764 (49.20%)

Angie Carraway (Dem) — 44,156 (50.80%)

Texas House District 112 (Dallas County)

Angie Chen Button (Rep) — 37,499 (46.44%)

Zach Herbert (Dem) — 43,251 (53.56%)

RESULTS ARE UNOFFICIAL UNTIL CANVASSED

BOND PROPOSITIONS

Collin County Prop A — Courts & Detention Facilities

For — 158,685 (37.41%)

Against — 265,539 (62.59%)

Collin County Prop B — Roads & Bridges

For — 204,907 (48.33%)

Against — 219,065 (51.67%)

Collin County Prop C — Parks & Open Space

For — 197,460 (46.68%)

Against — 225,561 (53.32%)

Collin County Prop D — Elections & Records Facility

For — 126,279 (30.03%)

Against — 294,202 (69.97%)

Collin College Prop A — College Facilities

For — 200,854 (47.52%)

Against — 221,774 (52.48%)

RESULTS ARE UNOFFICIAL UNTIL CANVASSED

The city of Murphy had a remarkably low water loss of 3% from its municipal system in August, as leaks were patched quickly and residential usage peaked at 171.3 million gallons. Meanwhile, contractors were behind schedule on replacing 5,500 copper service lines with high-density polyethylene pipe.

In presenting third-quarter water loss totals to the Oct. 20 meeting of the Murphy City Council, Daniel Paredez, assistant director of public works, assured councilmembers the August total was correct, even when compared with 11% in August of last year. 

“We double check and triple check the numbers on this, and numbers are the numbers … we found no errors,” he said. “Best we can come up with is there was about six leaks that came up in August, and they were all repaired relatively pretty quick, so we think we got ahead of the curve on that.”

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Election officials say early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election was brisk in the first week, but so far not as heavy as the similar periods prior to the November 2022 and 2024 elections. 

There had been 214,742 in-person voter check-ins after seven days of early voting, from Oct. 19 through Oct. 25, said Collin County Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux.

That compared with 501,190 during the first week of early voting for the 2024 general election and 352,294 in 2022. 

Breaux also said his department had received 15,560 requests for ballots by mail that have been processed and mailed. 

Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30, at 42 locations. 

Breaux said Gay Library in McKinney, Davis Library in West Plano and the Allen Public Library had been three of the busiest locations during the first week.

Breaux said Collin County had 795,752 registered voters eligible to cast ballots in the election. But because the county now uses hand-marked paper ballots printed on demand after check-in, voters may vote at any of the 90 polling locations open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The elections administrator encouraged voters to plan for where to vote and perhaps consider voting at another location close to them that may not be quite so busy. Voting locations and wait times may be found under polling locations on collincountytx.gov/elections.

Breaux said total Collin County turnout was 69.19% in the November 2024 election and 52.56% in November 2022. 

“I think we are on pace for a possible 65% to 70% turnout for this election,” he said. “As voter participation increases and the window of opportunity to vote closes, I would just encourage voters to remain patience and vote with grace as they interact with our election officials.”

This year’s early voting got off to a shaky start on Oct. 19, Breaux said.

“We had 10 polling locations that experienced some printer outages in the first hour or so of voting,” he said. “We were able to resolve most issues by 9:30 a.m.”

Collin County switched last year from ballot marking devices (BMDs) to paper ballots that are marked by hand.

“Most voters that we hear from feel like this process takes longs a little longer and liked the ballot marking device’s help in the marking process,” Breaux said. 

But he added it was only a small fraction of voters who commented. “Honestly, it’s probably the same amount that we heard from when we had BMDs, and those folks wanted hand-marked ballots,” he said.

Proposition D on the ballot is a County proposal to issue $40 million in bonds “for the purpose of designing, developing, constructing, and equipping a new County elections and storage facility, including election department offices, election training, election storage, County records, historical documents and equipment storage.”

Breaux said the switch to hand-marked ballots added to the need for more space but was not the only factor. 

“We were part of a space study a few years ago, and the study concluded that we were in about half of the space that we should be in,” he said. “We currently have 25,000 square feet of space (give or take). The study concluded that we should be in about 55,000 square feet of space.”

The elections administrator said the hand-mark ballot equipment is taking up a larger footprint in warehouse space, but growth was also playing a part in his department’s needs. 

“We trained more than 900 workers for this election, and our training space only allows for about 40 participants at a time,” Breaux said. “This is another huge need for us also. We are just out of space here.”

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A bright red cabinet filled with children’s books has become Murphy’s newest and only library — one that requires no library card, charges no fines and is open whenever a reader stops by.

Seven members of the Plano-based Mary Shirley McGuire Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated the Little Free Library on Oct. 17 outside the rear entrance of the Murphy Community Center, 205 N. Murphy Road.

About a dozen community members joined the chapter for the dedication on a sunny, cool morning, along with city representatives including Murphy Parks and Recreation Director Matt Foster.

Read the full story in the October 22nd edition. Stay informed — subscribe to Murphy Monitor.

Planning Manager Stephanie Scott-Sims said at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting that Murphy had previously considered rental registration. 

In August 2014, city staff identified about 360 single-family rental properties, but council discussed the issue without pursuing a registration program, she said.

Read the full story in the October 22nd edition. Stay informed — subscribe to Murphy Monitor.

In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Keith Self, a Republican, is seeking his third term in the U.S. House. He is opposed by Evan Hunt, the Democratic nominee. 

Four Republicans in the Texas House are seeking re-election. They include Katrina Pierson in District 33, Jeff Leach in District 67, Candy Noble in District 89 and Angie Chen Button in District 112.

The Democratic challengers are Orlando Lopez in 33, Jordan Wheatley in 67, Angie Carraway in 89 and Zach Herbert in 112.

Non-partisan local elections on the ballot include board members for the Wylie ISD.

WISD voters will choose trustees for four board seats, with five candidates competing for the open Place 2 seat.

Trustees serve four-year terms and, although candidates run for numbered places, represent the district at large. 

Incumbents Stacie Smith, Virdie Montgomery and Jacob Day are seeking reelection in Places 1, 5 and 6, respectively. 

Place 2 is open because current trustee Mike Williams is not seeking another term. The five candidates for Place 2, in ballot order, are Bonnie Tinsley, Brett Fagan, Brandon Thomas, Sam Satterwhite and Scott Johnson.

Two big county-wide bond elections are also on the ballot. 

The Collin County Commissioners Court is asking voters to authorize up to $817.5 million in bonds for county facilities, roads and bridges, parks and open space, and a new elections and records storage facility.

A six-year program, covering fiscal years 2027 through 2032, would divide the proposed investment among four propositions.

Proposition A would provide $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.

Proposition B would provide $475 million for road improvement projects, including the design, construction, improvement and maintenance of non-tolled roads and bridges. The proposition also would cover land and right-of-way acquisitions and participation in joint county-state and county-city projects.

Proposition C would provide $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.

Proposition D would provide $40 million for a new elections and records storage facility. The facility would include elections offices and training space, election and equipment storage, and storage for county records and historical documents.

Collin County Trustees are seeking to raise $600 million for expansion including three new facilities. The proposition wound fund workforce and academic expansions at the McKinney Campus, the Technical Campus located in Allen, the Frisco Campus, the Wylie Campus, the Farmersville Campus and the Courtyard Center located in Plano. 

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

Early voting runs daily from Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 30.

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Several Murphy residents have recently asked City Council why City Manager Aretha Adams does not live in the city.

According to the Murphy City Charter: “The City Manager need not be a resident of the city when appointed but shall within a reasonable time after such appointment reside within the city during the balance of the tenure of his or her appointment.”

Adams, who had been city manager in Heath, was hired by council in December 2023 and began work in February 2024.

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In a presentation to council’s Oct. 6 meeting, Police Chief Jeff Gibson dispelled myths about the cameras, saying they only capture the rear of a car, the system does not track motorists and data may be accessed for no more than 30 days.

He said each search requires officers to enter a case number, case type and reason for the search.

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Three public works projects worth nearly $2 million were on the consent agenda for the Oct. 6 meeting of the Murphy City Council.

Engineering services for a redesign for the FM 544 pedestrian bridge over Maxwell Creek had a not-to-exceed $127,900 price tag, the cost for the rehabilitation and painting of the water tower on Rodeo Drive was $493,000, and the cost to replace the cast iron water main in The Timbers would be $1,368,160, Public Works Director Donald Reese said.

Engineer Neel-Schaffer, Inc, would handle the redesign and rebid of the lighted pedestrian bridge along with construction administration. 

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