Blancett narrowly re-elected
Salado ISD voters overwhelmingly approved the $49.4 million bond proposal. Village of Salado voters narrowly re-elected Mayor Skip Blancett.
SISD voters approved the bond 1,286 FOR and 669 AGAINST. In early voting, 1,006 voted for and 489 voted against. Election Day 280 voted for and 180 voted against.
Skip Blancett is the winner in the Mayoral race with 329 votes, followed by David Williams with 323 votes and Linda Reynolds with 142 votes.
Michael Coggin led a field of five candidates for two positions on the Village of Salado Board of Aldermen. He had 449 votes, 355 in early voting.
Frank Coachman was re-elected with 316 votes, 240 in early voting. Becky Butscher had 286 votes, 217 in early voting. Judy Fields had 195 votes, 146 in early voting. Chad Martin had 161 votes, 123 in early voting.
In early voting, 1,006 voted for and 489 voted against the bond proposal. On Election Day May 5, 280 voted for and 180 voted against.
Two newcomers will join the Salado ISD Board of Trustees, facing no opposition on the May 5 ballot: Dr. Bobbie Ann White and Jim Hodgin.
Mayor Blancett was re-elected to his third term on May 5 by the slimmest of margins over challenger David Williams. Blancett received 329 votes while Williams received 323 voters and Linda Reynolds took 142 votes.
Michael Coggin led a field of five candidates for two positions on the Village of Salado Board of Aldermen. He had 449 votes, 355 in early voting.
Frank Coachman was re-elected with 316 votes, 240 in early voting.
Becky Butscher had 286 votes, 217 in early voting. Judy Fields had 195 votes, 146 in early voting. Chad Martin had 161 votes, 123 in early voting.
Lessons from Prior Races
Blancett received fewer votes in the 2018 race than he did in his first re-election campaign in 2016, when he defeated the late Hans Fields by a margin of 357 votes to 281 votes for Fields.
Saladoans will remember that Blancett was a write-in candidate in 2016, having failed to fill out the filing paperwork completely for the deadline at that time. He was able to file as a write-in candidate.
In 2016, there were a few write-in candidates in contested Mayoral and Alderman races. Amber Preston-Dankert was easily re-elected as aldermen (410 votes) as a write-in candidate while write-in challenger Linda Reynolds (running for the first of three tries so far to get elected) earned 238 votes. Coachman, who made the ballot correctly, earned 321 votes in 2016 to be re-elected to his second term on the Board, a handful more than he tallied this time around in a field of five candidates.
Blancett’s 329 votes in 2018 are more than he received when he was first elected Mayor in 2014.
In a field of four candidates, Blancett received 290 votes. Also running that year were former mayor Rick Ashe, who received 187 votes, incumbent mayor Danney McCort, 104 votes and alderman Hans Fields, 97 votes.
David T. Williams, even in defeat in 2018, received far more votes in the mayor race than he did when he ran for re-election as alderman last year or when he was elected to the board in 2015. In 2017, he ran in a field of seven candidates for three positions on the board and received 219 votes; he was elected in 2015 with 210 votes, unseating the late Hans Fields who had 191 votes. The 2017 election included a proposition for disannexation of a large portion of Salado that failed with 707 voting against and 116 voting for.
Andy Jackson led the 2017 field with 511 votes, followed by Michael McDougal, 442 votes and Fred Brown, 379 votes. Linda Reynolds, seeking election as alderman for the second time in 2017, received 209 votes. Judy Fields received 190 votes that year. Christopher Tramel received 170.
Evident from this history of recent races for Mayor and Aldermen is that a large field of candidates tends to benefit the establishment candidate.
This election cycle leaves many in Salado wondering if Blancett would have been re-elected without the influence of Linda Reynolds in the race. Had Reynolds dropped her name from the ballot as Michael McDougal did after Skip signed on to run at the last hour, Blancett and Williams would have been in a two person race. It is highly doubtful if any of the 142 Saladoans that voted for Reynolds would have chosen Blancett over Williams.
One can see the similarities that spoilers play in Salado as they do at the national level when Ralph Nader took votes away from Al Gore in 2000 and Ross Perot took votes from President George H.W. Bush in 1992.