Hays County Democrats took the rare step of deposing a countywide incumbent officeholder, replacing County Judge Elizabeth Sumter on the ticket with Pct. 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton in Tuesday’s primary election.

Hays County Judge Elizabeth Sumter debates fellow Democratic Party challenger Pct. 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton at the San Marcos Area League of Women Voter’s debate on Feb. 11.

Campaigning in San Marcos on Saturday, gubernatorial candidate Bill White scoffed at his Democratic Party primary opponent’s recent claim that White’s mention of his San Antonio birthplace in campaign commercials is racist.

With election season upon her, County Judge Elizabeth Sumter has mustered a passion for fiscal discipline, holding up road and building projects that have been in the works for years and which she funded in her proposed budget just months ago.

San Marcos business owner Peggy Jones, who has been campaigning since August, has filed to run for Hays County Judge as a Republican.

Both major Hays County political party chairs say they are fielding solid candidate slates in 2010 and point to an abundance of high-profile primary races as a sign of their strength in the famously purple county.

Hays County Pct. 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton today announced a bid for county judge, making official an intra-Democratic Party showdown with incumbent Elizabeth Sumter.

A .45 caliber bullet struck a house and almost hit a resident in the Green Pastures neighborhood east of Kyle after an unknown person apparently fired a gun in the air, authorities said.

Officials will keep secret a list of 15 properties being offered to Hays County as the cornerstone of a habitat conservation plan and parks and open space acquisition.

Insisting that work not be delayed on the widening of FM 1626, more than 400 mostly Kyle- and Buda-area residents spilled out of the Elm Grove Elementary School cafeteria and into the hallways during a final environmental hearing on a segment of the roadway slated for improvement.