As we move closer to Christmas Day, our March 2026 Republican Primary candidate list has been finalized with some interesting, competitive races ahead. First, however, are the races where a candidate is running unopposed. County Judge: Jody Fauley, District/ County Clerk: Christi Whitley, County Tax Assessor/Collector: Lois Lebow, Justice of the Peace: Sharon Blossman and County Surveyor: George Amthor are all running with no opposition for their respective race. However, we have three candidates vying to become our next County Treasurer. They are Kristina Lively, Kristi Weyerts and Cassandra Merriman. Additionally, we have two County Commissioner races that have two candidates each. In Precinct 2, incumbent Michael Poe faces off against challenger and former commissioner, Rickey Lusty while in Precinct 4 incumbent Greg McGregor will be running against another former commissioner, Pat Pool.
For the Republican Party positions, all incumbents were unopposed, with GOP County Chair Jeff Carlson, Precinct 1 Chair Randal Hawkins, Precinct 2 Chair Cindy Sloan, Precinct 3 Chair Johana Huff and Precinct 4 Chair Leif Haug returning for a two-year term. By State Party rules, the four Precinct Chairs will not appear on the ballot but are now considered elected.
The official Ballot Draw to determine the order of candidates on the ballot in all contested races will be held on Thursday, December 18th at 3 p.m. at the Courthouse in the 2nd Floor Commissioners Courtroom and is open to the public. Once the Ballot Draw is complete and the order of the names on the ballot is set, the election contractor will receive the request to print ballots and we move into the logistics of setting up the primary. Best of luck to all the candidates.