Results signal shift for Montgomery Co.
GOP primary outcome may mean major leadership changes and move to the right
The Republican primary defeat of embattled Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal — and close contests in two county commissioner races headed for runoffs — could signal major leadership changes and a shift further to the right in the fastgrowing Houston suburb.
State Rep. Mark Keough, who defeated Doyal, was among several candidates favored by the county’s influential tea party movement — and like-minded statewide groups — who fared well Tuesday. Others in this cohort include Steve Toth, who overwhelmingly won the GOP nomination for the legislative seat that Keough is vacating, and Greg Parker, who got 43 percent of the vote in a three-person race and forced County Commissioner Charlie Riley, with 43.5 percent, into a primary runoff.
Toth and Parker have staked out positions aligned with the most far-right elements of their party. Parker’s campaign website says he wrote a book described as “a critical look at the myth and liberal hysteria surrounding climate change.” Toth, who was instrumental in the formation of the county’s tea party movement, has advocated eliminating property appraisal dis-
tricts and freezing appraisals at the purchase price of a home.
Toth held the state House seat from 2013 until 2014 and unsuccesfully challenged U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady in a primary in 2016. He will face Democrat Lorenza Perez McGill in November to represent District 15.
In the highest-profile race on Tuesday’s ballot, Keough, 64, captured 58 percent of the primary vote to end Doyal’s bid for a second term.
Doyal, 56, who could not be reached for comment, served as a county commissioner for 13 years before ascending to the county’s top office in January 2015. His campaign was dogged by allegations that he and others violated the Texas Open Meetings Act later that year by discussing a controversial $280 million road bond in private before placing it on the ballot.
A district judge had dismissed the charges after finding part of the law unconstitutional, but weeks before the primary, a state appeals court reinstated the charges against Doyal, Riley and political consultant Marc Davenport, sending them back to district court for trial proceedings. No date has been set for the proceedings.
Davenport’s wife, County Treasurer Stephanne Davenport, lost her bid for renomination to Melanie Bush, the president of the Conroe ISD board, who got 66 percent of the vote. Bush had tea party support, and her victory was among several celebrated in an article on the website of Empower Texans, a statewide conservative group aligned with tea party ideology.
Bush will face Democrat Mandy Sunderland in the general election.
Keough will face Democrat Jay Stittleburg in the November general election, with the winner taking the helm of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court starting next January.
In Precinct 2, the winner of the Riley-Parker runoff will face Democrat Ron Keichline, a management systems auditor, in the general election.
“I’m excited that the folks came out to vote,” said Parker, a two-term commissioner in Comal County from 2005 to 2012. “They are looking for change; and it is clear from the votes they are looking for changes because more people voted against the incumbent than voted for him.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack, who represents The Woodlands, has already thrown his support behind Parker.
“I’m supporting Parker,” Noack said Tuesday night. “I look forward to a change the people are looking for on Commissioners Court.”
Riley declined to comment.
In Precinct 4, Justice of the Peace James Metts was the top vote-getter with 40 percent of the vote, followed by incumbent Jim Clark at 34.5 percent and Bob Bagley at 25.5 percent. Metts and Clark will face each other in a runoff, which will decide the race as Democrats didn’t field a candidate.
Clark was initially charged with an open-meetings violation along with his two colleagues and Davenport, but he was granted a pretrial diversion in exchange for his testimony against the others, Clark’s attorney said last year.
Political observers agreed that toll roads emerged as a dominant issue in the county, where tea party groups carry a lot of clout, particularly in The Woodlands.
“Without toll roads and that funding, I don’t know what we are going to do,” Doyal said late last year, citing the need for new roadways in rapidly growing parts of the Houston area.
Keough took a hard stance against toll roads.
“I think toll roads are another form of taxation,” Keough said last December. “I’m out on toll roads. Toll roads are about a bigger issue; it’s about big government.”