By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-888563.mp3
Dallas, TX – In one of the hottest races in North Texas, incumbent Dallas County Judge Jim Foster, lost, coming up last in a 3-way race. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more on the surprising contest that now pits newcomer Clay Jenkins up against county schools chair Larry Duncan in a runoff.
Early vote returns showed County Judge Jim Foster pulling only about 20 percent of the total vote, and that never changed. Four years ago he shocked fellow Democrats and perhaps himself, when he won. He had been swept into office thanks to the near countywide blue tide of Democratic victories. But with Tuesday's election news, Judge Foster says he'll just keep doing his job till the end.
Foster: I've got until January 1 to continue doing what I've been doing and I'll continue to do exactly that.
Foster says it's immaterial to him whether Clay Jenkins or Larry Duncan wins the runoff. Jenkins, who nearly won the race outright with just shy of 50 percent of the total vote, says he'll keep campaigning hard.
Jenkins: We will continue to do exactly what we have done. We'll run a 100 percent positive campaign and we'll talk about the issues. We'll win the runoff handily. And then we'll turn our focus toward November.
Dallas County Schools board chair Larry Duncan isn't so sure. The former Dallas City Councilman says the first election he ever won was in runoff. He expects to win this one, even though he finished with just 30 percent of the total vote.
Duncan: Our team will reach out to everybody, to all the Democrats again. This becomes a question of turning out your voters. It's contact. Getting us and volunteers to contact them and get them to the polls.
For Duncan and Jenkins, it all starts over after a year of campaigning. But the runoff ends April 13th. The winner faces Cedar Hill City Council member Wade Emmert in the fall.