Texas House/Senate Races, Tarrant/Dallas County Races

This thread will serve to provide updates on the outcomes of contested Texas State House and Senate Races, as well as Tarrant and Dallas County races of note. A handy link to this post is on the upper right-hand corner of the blog, but I will probably keep promoting this post along with our other election threads to the top of the blog. For the sake of ease of reading, I'll skip the "Update" addendum that usually accompanies a change to the post, and just add information as we get it.

Dallas County
Lupe Valdez appears to be cruising to victory for Sheriff. With about 40-50% of precincts reporting, Dallas Democrats appear to be running the tables. Ken Molberg (D) defeats his Republican challenger, three days after being mauled by a dog while campaigning to boot.

Tarrant County
Randy Turner looks to be trailing in the race for the 17th Civil District, by about 45,000 votes. And...yep, Turner will lose. Damn. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson (R) will win re-election. No turning Tarrant County blue, at least not this year.

Texas House

Diane Maldonado (D) wins. Joe Moody (D) wins. Incumbent Dan Barrett (D) loses. Donnie Dippell (D) loses. To this point, it looks like Democrats may very well manage a tie in the Texas House, 72-72, though doing so will hinge on the extremely close race between Bob Romano and Linda Harper-Brown. Romano leads by TWENTY-FIVE votes.

Texas Senate

Wendy Davis (D) defeats incumbent Kim Brimer. Chris Bell fails to reach a majority, and will face a runoff election against Republican Joan Huffman in December.

Texas Judiciary

Texas Supreme Court, Chief Justice: Wallace Jefferson (R) will defeat challenger Jim Jeffords. Texas Supreme Court, Place 7: Dale Wainwright (R) will defeat challenger Sam Houston. Texas Supreme Court, Place 8: Phil Johnson (R) will defeat Linda Yanez. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3: Tom Price (R) defeats Susan Strawn. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4: Paul Womack (R) defeats J.R. Molina.