Ralph Hall, Bob Deuell easily win primary elections

By J.J. Smith. Eighty six-year-old Rockwall resident and 15-term incumbent Congressman Ralph Hall easily won yet one more Republican primary election yesterday, beating five other challengers from across northeast Texas.

Final District 4 vote totals show Hall earning 57 percent of the vote, compared with Rockwall resident Steve Clark’s 31 percent, John Cooper with 5 percent, Jerry Ray (Tea) Hall 4 percent, Lou Gigliotti 2 percent  and Joshua Kowert with 1 percent.

Clark spent at least $300,000 of his own money through mid-February on TV, radio, print and Internet advertisements.

State Senator Bob Deuell from Greenville easily defeated Rowlett resident Sharon Russell in the GOP District 2 State Senate primary election. Final totals showed Deuell with nearly 38,000 votes compared to Russell’s 15,000-plus.

In November Hall will face Democrat VaLinda Hathcox, an attorney and rancher from Sulphur Springs, who ran unsuccessfully for her party’s nomination in District 4 in 2008, as well as Libertarian Jim D. Prindle, an Allen realtor.

Deuell will face Democrat newcomer Kathleen Shaw from South Dallas in November .