Upshur County Sheriff Anthony Betterton defeated challenger Larry Webb by 25 votes, 2,318-2,293, in complete but unofficial returns to win apparent reelection to a fourth term, while Paula Gentry ousted Pct. 1 Commissioner James Crittenden by a wide margin, as the result of a Republican runoff in which there were some voting irregularities Tuesday.

Webb said Tuesday night he hadn’t decided whether to seek a recount, and had issued no further statements as of Friday.

In a race where voting irregularities occurred, Ms. Gentry defeated Crittenden in his bid for a third term, 798-479, in complete unofficial returns.

Crittenden, who had said Tuesday night he would challenge the election in court if he lost, announced Thursday morning he would not, and expressed congratulations to Ms. Gentry on her victory. (See separate story.)

In other countywide local races on the GOP ballot, Stanley Jenkins defeated John Cannon Jr. in the race for Pct.3 Constable, while Cynthia Ridgeway easily defeated Chuck Mears for county Republican chairman.

There were also six contested races for Republican precinct chairmanships, likely the first time so many of the positions have been contested in an Upshur County GOP primary.

Jenkins defeated Cannon, 609-464, while Mrs. Ridgeway defeated Mears, 2,430-1,649 in complete, unofficial returns.

Winning the GOP primary for the county governmental offices is likely tantamount to election in November, since no Democrats are running. The terms for those offices begin Jan. 1, while Mrs. Ridgeway takes office as county GOP chairman this month.

In the precinct chair races for seats on the county Republican Executive Committee, winners in complete, unofficial returns were Julie Chandler, Pct. 2; Madaline Barber, Pct. 3; Deborah J. Hodge, Pct. 4; Richard Ridgeway, Pct. 7; Laurie Kay Fisher, Pct. 10; and Linda Ambrose, 11.

Ironically, the husbands of three of those winners—Mmes. Chandler, Hodge and Ambrose—had lost their bids for election to offices in the May 29 Republican primary.

Mrs. Chandler won a 4-way race with 174 votes to 106 for committee member Joy Connery; 65 for Jesse Loffer; and 35 for DeBorah “Storm Cloud” Bankston. Mrs. Chandler’s husband, Mike Chandler, had lost a race for Pct. 1 commissioner.

Mrs. Barber, already a committee member, defeated Wayne Oney, 188-111. Oney was also a losing candidate in the Pct. 1 commissioner primary May 29.

Mrs. Hodge, whose husband Richard Hodge was another losing candidate in that Pct. 1 commissioner race, defeated committee member Troy L. Jones, 64-41.

Mrs. Ridgeway’s husband, Richard Ridgeway, defeated Molly Cummings, 157-126, while Laurie Kay Fisher won over LeNeta Jeter, 307-132. Mrs. Ambrose, whose husband Ken Ambrose was defeated for reelection as county Republican chairman May 29, defeated Jackie P. Lum, 41-34.

All returns cited above are complete but unofficial.

In the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate, Upshur County followed the statewide trend as Ted Cruz topped David Dewhurst here, 2,309-2,193, in complete, unofficial returns.

In the only race on the local Democratic runoff ballot Tuesday, also for U.S. Senate, local voters also followed the statewide trend as Paul Sadler defeated Grady Yarbrough, 138-37, in complete but unofficial returns.

In the other three state races on the Upshur GOP ballot, complete but unofficial returns were as follows:

Railroad Commissioner—Christi Craddick, who won statewide, 2,399; Warren Chisum, 1,525;

Railroad Commissioner (unexpired term)—Barry Smitherman, who won statewide, 2,035; Greg Parker, 1,638.

Justice, Texas Supreme Court, Place 4—David Medina, who lost statewide to John Devine, carried the county 2,056 to 1,648.

Total turnout for the two parties’ runoffs in Upshur County was 4,851, or only 18.52 percent, of the total 26,200 registered voters, according to County Clerk Brandy Lee’s office. That included 4,675 in the GOP election and 176 in the Democratic (one of the 176 left the ballot blank).

In the GOP primary, 1,886 of the 4,611 votes in the sheriff’s race were cast in early voting. It was by far Betterton’s closest election since he ousted his predecessor, R.D. (Buck) Cross, by the same 25-vote margin in the 2000 Democratic primary. (Betterton later converted to the GOP.)

Betterton had received nearly 500 votes more than Webb in the May 29 primary. One of the two losing candidates in that race, Donald Willeford, then endorsed Betterton in the runoff.