Cinco de Mayo was also an Election Night celebration for those who won their elections for the City of Cooper and Cooper Independent School District Board of Trustees.
It was the incumbents that took the three positions on the City Council – Willie “Bear” Wilkins with 95 votes, David Phillips with 82, and Donna Thomason with 70. Vying for a place on the Council was Amanda L’Esperance, who earned 33 votes in the recent race.
These totals reported are unofficial until the election is canvassed. The City had 250 total voters (with two provisional).
As early voting counts came in had began to look clear who would be serving for the Cooper ISD Board of Trustees. By the final count newcomer Shawn Stegall had 165 votes and incumbent Jeff Phifer had 160 to take the top two full term three-year positions.
Stegall and Phifer expressed their appreciation for all the support received.
Five other candidates ran a close race. Jeff Miller garnered 104 votes, Erin Thornton had 83, Jennifer Houchins received 56, Jennifer Speulda took 40, and Damon Toon with 34. There was a total of 642 votes cast in this election, of these 274 early votes. The majority of the votes were cast at City Hall in Cooper with 183 and 79 were placed at East Delta. The canvass will be held on Thursday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m.
Cooper ISD Superintendent Denicia Hohenberger was proud of the clean campaign all the candidates ran.
“We have had seven community members, including one incumbent, running for two seats...and not a single one has run a negative campaign, done any smearing, or otherwise been anything but supportive of the other candidates as far as I’ve seen. That’s absolutely amazing in this day and age! Hats off to you all,” said Cooper ISD Superintendent Denicia Hohenberger as she wished good luck on Facebook.