Three contested county races in the GOP March primaries

As the candidate filing period for the upcoming March 5, 2024, Republican Party primary election ended on Monday, Dec. 11, several contested races became evident in Lavaca County.
Topping the list next year will be a three-way race for local sheriff between incumbent Micah Harmon, who is seeking his third four-year term as county sheriff.
He will be facing challengers Steven Greenwell of Hallettsville, the retired federal Department of Homeland Security supervising agent who, on Friday, Dec. 8, officially stepped down from his role as Lavaca County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace so that he might throw his hat in the ring for county sheriff.
Also on the ballot for the sheriff’s race is Anthony Vaccaro of Yoakum, a former sheriff’s department investigator who currently holds the post of director of operations with his present post. He was turning up at local parades in full election regalia since at least July 2022, if not sooner.
On the plus side, whoever wins the March 2024 primary election or, should the three candidates split the votes and force a runoff election (which would occur sometime between mid-April and early May), each candidate should come out of the primaries knowing who won the office.
No Democrats filed for the local offices, and barring one appearing later as a write-in candidate later (which is intentionally difficult to secure to encourage candidates to adhere to the set deadlines), the only opponents the local candidates face now exist within their own party.
As such that makes the Republican Party primary election winner the de facto candidate come Jan. 1, 2025, when the new terms will begin.
Another Lavaca County contested race will be the race for county attorney. If it seems a bit like déjà vu, it probably should because Kyle Denney and James Reeves, both of Hallettsville, were the same two men on the ballots in 2020, when longtime Lavaca County prosecutor John Stuart Fryer retired from that office in late 2019.
The main difference between the two candidates now is that Denney enters the race as the seated incumbent for that office and Reeves is his challenger.
The race for Lavaca County Precinct 1 county commissioner should seem mighty familiar as well because back in 2020, incumbent Edward Pustka of Hallettsville stood off a bid for his office made by challenger Travis Henderson, a local businessman and former oil lease man.
Pustka hopes for a repeat in 2024, as Henderson looks for the upset. Only time will tell.  As to the rest of the offices on the Lavaca County ballots none of the rest face a challenger. Those include:
• County Tax Assessor-Collector Deborah A. Sevcik, of Hallettsville.
• Precinct 3 County Commissioner Kenny Siegel, of Shiner.
• Precinct 1 County Constable Mike Buchanek, of Hallettsville.
• Precinct 2 County Constable David W. Beyer, of Moulton.
• Precinct 3 County Constable Larry W. Hlavac, of Shiner.
• Precinct 4 County Constable Kerry L. Peterson, of Yoakum.
One race not listed here but will need to be addressed soon is the office of Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace, which opened when Greenwell announced his candidacy for sheriff.
County officials will need to decide how they proceed with that post, either by appointment of the commissioners’ court or by means of special election.
Watch your local newspaper to stay apprised.