Voters in solid-red Collin County went to the polls in record numbers to vote in Tuesday’s presidential election and again selected all Republicans, from President Donald Trump all the way down the ballot.
Republican U.S. Rep. Van Taylor defeated Democrats’ heavily funded candidate Lulu Seikaly, winning a second term representing the 3rd Congressional District, which covers much of Collin County.
In two of the tightest Texas House races in the state, Republican incumbent State Reps. Matt Shaheen of Plano and Jeff Leach of Allen each received the most votes.
Leach won a fifth term representing House District 67 with 52 percent of the vote and Shaheen won a fourth term serving House District 66 with 49 percent over his Democrat opponent.
“There ain’t no ‘blue wave’ in Collin County,” Shaheen told supporters at a Republican victory party on election night.
The rest of the Collin County delegation—Republican State Reps. Scott Sanford (McKinney), Candy Noble (Lucas), and Justin Holland (Heath)—easily won re-election against Democrat opponents.
Republicans won all nine of Collin County’s district court judge races on the ballot; all but two faced Democrat opponents. George Flint won the open-seat race.
Rounding out the partisan races in Collin County, Commissioners Susan Fletcher and Darrell Hale, both Republican incumbents, defeated Democrat challengers, as did Tax Assessor-Collector Ken Maun.
Local Races
This year, Texas voters decided key local elections alongside state and federal races. The nominally nonpartisan city council and school board elections usually held in May were moved to November due to concerns about the Chinese coronavirus.
Some city and school officials also added property tax-backed bond debt propositions to their local voters’ November ballot.
Allen voters elected former city council member Ken Fulk as mayor. A second mayoral candidate withdrew from the race but remained on the ballot and drew over 40 percent of the vote. Councilmember Carl Clemencich ran unopposed.
The largest of Allen Independent School District’s four bond propositions totaling $222 million passed by less than a percentage point. Voters approved Proposition A ($189 million for school facility updates and buses) and Proposition D ($25 million for computers), while Propositions B and C for athletic facility updates failed. In May 2019, voters rejected a $422 million bond package.
Allen ISD voters also chose a new trustee, electing Polly Montgomery over Sathya Sastry to the district’s open school board seat. Trustee Vatsa Ramanathan was unopposed.
Frisco City Councilmember Brian Livingston won a second term over two challengers. In a seven-way race for an open Frisco council seat, Dan Stricklin and Laura Rummel were the top two vote-getters and are headed to a runoff. Frisco Conservatives endorsed Livingston and Stricklin. Mayor Jeff Cheney ran unopposed for a second term.
Lucas voters defeated a controversial $19 million bond proposition to fund a fiber optic cable system for broadband internet service. Anti-bond challenger Tim Johnson won the contested Lucas City Council seat over pro-Proposition B incumbent Wayne Millsap. Councilmember Tim Baney was unopposed.
McKinney City Councilmember La’Shadion Shemwell was on the losing end of a special citywide recall election initiated by local citizens. Shemwell filed a federal voting rights lawsuit against the city, alleging recall provisions in the city charter were racially motivated and violate the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. The Black Lives Matter activist was elected in 2017 by voters in his majority-minority district and says only they should be able to remove him from office.
Parker voters rejected a $9.5 million bond proposition to build a new city hall complex and elected anti-bond Parker City Council candidates Michael Slaughter and Terry Lynch.
In Wylie, fiscal conservative Dave Strang defeated Tom Ambrose to fill the city council seat vacated by taxpayer champion Matthew Porter, who ran unopposed for mayor. Democrat-supported Garrett Mize won the other contested city council seat.
Voter turnout in Collin County exceeded 75 percent.
Complete election results can be found on the Collin County Elections website.
