Small Town News

Incumbent Conaway easily wins primary

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Incumbent Congressman Mike Conaway walked away with more than 77 percent of the votes in Tuesday's GOP primary election to face Democrat James Quillian in the Nov. 2 race for District 11.

Opponents Chris Younts and Al Cowan split the remaining votes.

With 152 of the 364 precincts in District 11 reporting Tuesday evening, Conaway had received 30,909 of the 39,929 votes cast. With all votes returned in Burnet County, Conaway had 3,995 votes; Younts, 565; and Cowan, 907. With the 10 precincts reporting in Llano County, Conaway received 2,590 votes; Younts, 267, and Cowan, 731.

Conaway, a native Texan from Odessa, was the first to serve as representative for the 11th Congressional District of Texas, which encompasses 36 counties, including Burnet and Llano counties, in Central and West Texas. If he wins the seat in November, he will serve his fourth term in Congress.

Conaway currently serves on the House Agricultural, Intelligence, Armed Services, and Ethics Committees and is a ranking member on the Subcommittee on Rural Development, Biotechnology, Specialty Crops and Foreign Agriculture. He graduated from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1970 with a BBA degree in accounting and later served in the Army at Fort Hood. He was former President George W. Bush's Chief Financial Officer for Bush Exploration.

Newcomer Younts is a former firefighter with the San Angelo Fire Department who led in the formation of the San Angelo Tea Party in February 2009. Younts currently works as an independent insurance agent in the Concho Valley. He spent the years between 1990 and 2003 running a pecan orchard with his grandfather on Copperas Creek in Comanche County.

Also a newcomer, Cowan is a resident of Llano County with a homestead in Sunrise Beach. He has been critical of Conaway's TARP vote and irresponsible spending in Congress. Cowan is a former school board president and military officer.

Conaway's opponent, Quillian, a conservative Texas Democrat from Monahans in Ward County has centered his campaign on reforming Congress. Quillian began teaching at Odessa High School in 2002 after running his own business as a stockbroker and a portfolio manager for the Quillian and Taylor Private Investment Co., which was defunct as of Dec. 31, 2009.



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© 2010 Burnet Bulletin Burnet, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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