It was close—just 91 votes. But strong support from the City of Presidio precincts gave incumbent County Judge Jose “Joe” Portillo a victory over challenger David Beebe in the Presidio County Democratic primary Tuesday night—924 (52.59%) to 833 (47.41%). All results are unofficial until local governments canvas the votes.
As of Big Bend Sentinel’s press time Wednesday morning, full results—which include county vote totals for state and national races, had not been returned by the county clerk; an email snafu to media was to blame. Nor were results available for Brewster County races and complete totals for Jeff Davis County.
“I want to thank everyone who voted, whether they voted for me or not,” Portillo said Wednesday morning. “Every contested race was very close. I think we, as elective officials, need to read into that. We should be doing more listening, less talking, less drama. They want us to put aside our differences and get things done.”
Beebe conceded defeat in an Instagram post after early vote totals showed a margin unlikely for him to make up with Election Day totals. “While I was hoping for a different outcome, I am proud of the positive campaign we ran and the vision we advanced of a more unified County,” he wrote. “In so far as Judge Portillo’s success aligns with the success of Presidio County, we are wishing him only the best.”
In the Presidio-area precincts, Jesus “Junie” Herrera came up tops for Precinct 2 commissioner and will head to a runoff against Presidio City Councilmember Fernando Juarez. Incumbent Margarito Hernandez came in third.
Despite the Presidio-area show of support for Portillo, two Marfa county-wide candidates staved off challengers: Treasurer Florcita Zubia beat Jusby Vasquez, and Carolina Cataño bested Brenda Pando Covos. In a key South County race for Precinct 2 justice of the peace, Bianca Martinez Bailon won 57.05% of the vote to avoid a runoff against Jessica Murillo.
In another watched race, challenger Lane “Buster” Mills narrowly defeated incumbent County Judge Curtis Evans by 17 votes—313 (51.40%) to 296 (48.60%).
Big Bend Sentinel will be updating totals and posting full results from the tri-county clerks at bigbendsentinel.com/election2026
In the state Democratic primary, state Rep. James Talarico (52.8%) defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (45.9%) and won all three area counties. Gina Hinojosa took 58.8% of the totals to win the primary for governor and face Greg Abott in the fall.
In the Republican state primary, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (41.9%) will head to a runoff to try and hold his seat against Attorney General Ken Paxton (40.7%). In Presidio County, only 58 Republicans cast ballots in that race, with 30 going for Paxton, 23 for Cornyn, and 5 for Wesley Hunt. Cornyn held a slight edge over Paxton (214-207) in Jeff Davis County, while Brewster County went for Paxton (461-301).
In U.S. House District 23 (which covers the tri-county area), Republican incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales (41.7%) narrowly lost to Brandon Herrera (43.3%) and the two will head to a runoff. In the Democratic primary for the district, Katy Padilla Stout (52.3%) was victorious, followed by Santos Limon (26.8%), Alpine’s Bruce Richardson (11.7%) and Marfa’s Gretel Enck (9.1%).
For more state and national results see The Texas Tribune.