Hunt County has elected its first female state district judge. Keli Aiken was elected as the next judge of the 354th District Court, winning Tuesday’s Republican Party primary runoff election over challenger Craig Black in both Hunt and Rains counties.
Final unofficial vote totals reported from Hunt County indicated Aiken received 1,967 votes (63.62 percent) to Black’s 1,125 votes (36.38 percent).
Voters in Rains County also cast ballots in the race, as the county is included under the court’s jurisdiction.
Aiken received 235 votes to Black’s 188 ballots.
Aiken will be the next judge, taking the bench on Jan. 1, 2017, as she faces no opposition in November. Current 354th District Court Judge Richard Beacom is retiring at the end of the year.
Aiken is also only the third judge in the history of the 354th District Court, as Beacom succeeded Judge Richard Boswoth.
Aiken currently serves as First Assistant District Attorney in Hunt County.
Aiken and Black received the most votes in a four-person race for the office during the March 1 Republican Party primary election. But as neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the ballots, they moved to the GOP runoff election.
A total of 3,255 people voted in Hunt County in Tuesday’s runoff elections, which represented approximately a 6 percent turnout of the county’s 49,322 registered voters.