Incumbent Republican State Senator Bob Hall is a strong favorite to win a second term in Austin. Hall, who ousted longtime lawmaker Bob Deuell in a 2014 primary runoff, defeated Cindy Burkett in this year’s party primary election.
Securing the GOP nomination in the heavily Republican Senate District 2 gives Hall favorable odds for winning the general election in November against Democratic challenger Kendall Scudder. The district is composed of Delta, Fannin, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Rockwall and Van Zandt counties; as well as parts of eastern Dallas County.
Hall came away with 53.2 percent of the vote. Out of 66,800 votes, Hall won 35,561 to Burkett’s 31,239 (46.8 percent). Decisive victories in Kaufman County and Rockwall County powered Hall to victory. Hall took 60.3 percent of votes in Rockwall County (5,593 of 9,865 votes) and 57.5 percent of votes in Kaufman County (6,750 of 11,741 votes).
Four other counties went for Hall: Hunt, Fannin, Van Zandt and Rains. Hall won 53.7 percent of the vote in Hunt (4,845 of 9,019), 53.4 percent of the vote in Fannin (2,462 of 4,607), 52.1 percent of the vote in Van Zandt (4,756 of 9,126) and 51.6 percent of the vote in Rains (763 of 1,479).
Burkett won three counties, with her largest margin of victory coming in Hopkins County, in which 53.6 percent of votes went for Burkett (2,542 of 4,739). Delta County also went for Burkett (52.6 percent, 586 of 1,114), as did the portion of Dallas County in the district (51.6 percent, 7,803 of 15,110). Burkett is a former state representative who gave up her seat in ther House to challenge Hall.
