Early voting for November’s Midterm elections starts on Monday. The Waco Bridge editor-in-chief JB Smith joined the show to help give us a preview of the ballot.
The Waco Bridge and KWBU are partnering on election coverage throughout the elections, including shared social media posts, election night coverage and in-depth race previews in the lead-up to early voting.
You can use the Waco Bridge's new voter's guide to build your custom ballot ahead of early voting.
JB and Brazos Bulletin host Molly-Jo Tilton broke down three key races for McLennan County voters.
Stakes are high in Precinct 2 county commissioner rematch
Precinct 2 is the only contested County Commissioners race this year and is a rematch between Republican incumbent DL Wilson and Democratic challenger Jeremy Davis.
Wilson won the precinct in 2024 with 442 votes.
A write-in campaign by fellow Democrat Travis Gibson, which gained 359 votes, complicated that race Davis told us in 2024. In 2024, he said without that write-in campaign he'd have won.
But in the two years since then, the all-republican court has redistricted changing the makeup of the traditionally democratic precinct. They moved conservative rural neighborhoods into the district and some urban minority districts out.
Big issues in the precinct include proposed data centers and road maintenance. Both candidates told us they feel confident in their campaigns.
Taxes, vouchers and school funding at issue in House District 56 race
In the House District 56 race, Democrat Ashley Bean Thornton is challenging freshman Republican Pat Curry.
McLennan County hasn’t had a Democratic legislator since 2010, but Thornton is hoping to change that. She’s a retired teacher and local civic leader - she’s organized McLennan County Talks, Waco Walks and Act Locally Waco. She said her priorities for the district include improving public education and property tax reform.
Curry told us that if he's re-elected, he plans to pursue more mental health funding for the district and reduced property taxes.
Texas Senate District 22 will elect a new senator for the first time in 16 years.
Our longtime state senator, Brian Birdwell, resigned earlier this year to take a post at the Pentagon and that left the Senate District 22 seat open. That’s a huge district - 12 counties, including Erath and Hamilton in the west, the Fort Worth suburbs in the North and McLennan county as the population center.
Republican David Cook, a state representative from Mansfield and Democrat Amy Martinez-Salas, a legal assistant from Fort Worth, are both vying for that seat.
Cook has been very active in campaigning in Waco for the seat. He told us his priorities for Waco include securing more mental health funding for the county and reduced property taxes.
Amy Martinez-Salas said her priorities include reducing property taxes and increasing affordability for Texas families.
