County Judge Jim Lewis will continue his tenure as the longest-serving member of the McLennan County Commissioners Court after defeating Democratic challenger Ralph Cooper.

Lewis won 35,293 of 53,892 votes cast in the race, or 65.5 percent. Cooper carried 18,599 votes, 34.5 percent of the total vote.

“As we said from the beginning, we were going to run on our record and let the voters decide,” Lewis said Tuesday night. “We had faith in our voters and everything turned out the way we were hoping it would.”

Cooper did not return calls seeking comment by deadline.

Lewis’ career with the county has spanned nearly four decades. He served as jail administrator for the sheriff’s office for eight years before he was appointed Precinct 2 county commissioner in 1981.

County Judge Jim Lewis (left), a Republican, won a sixth term in office to keep the seat he has held since 1990. His challenger was Democrat Ralph Cooper (right), a Waco attorney.

Lewis was then elected to two full-terms as county commissioner before running for county judge in 1990, a position he has held since.

Cooper, 62, a Waco attorney, chaired the steering committee that successfully pushed the passage of a $172 million school bond package for the Waco Independent School District in a 2008 bond election.

The most divisive issue between the two has been the decision to build the 816-bed Jack Harwell Detention Center on State Highway 6.

Lewis, Commissioner Ray Meadows and former Precinct 1 commissioner Wendall Crunk voted to build the facility in 2008, citing concerns that the county would run out of bed space.

Since opening in June, the jail’s population has remained below 50 percent of the total capacity.

Revenues from housing inmates are needed to repay the $49 million in project revenue bonds that financed the jail’s construction.

Officials from Community Education Centers, the New Jersey detention company contracted to operate the jail, have said the inmate population needed to be at 90 percent capacity to generate enough money to cover the bond debt and operating expenses.

The county transferred all the inmates from the downtown jail to the Jack Harwell center in June so housing revenue that normally comes through the downtown facility could be applied to the bond debt.

Cooper contended the jail will become a huge burden on taxpayers if housing revenues cannot cover the bond debt.

He proposed that the county create a committee to explore more profitable alternative uses for the facility.

Lewis said it may be awhile before the jail population reaches the 90 percent threshold, but he believes it is a wise investment to prepare the county for any future growth in inmates.

rdennis@wacotrib.com

757-5755

RELATED SEARCHES

• How McLennan County voted in contested races
• Election results: Selected contested races in Central Texas (outside McLennan County)
• Flores ousts Edwards from Congress
• Beck upsets Waco's Dunnam for Texas House seat
• Doc Anderson defeats Mabry in rematch for House seat
• Reyna unseats Segrest as McLennan County DA
• GOP's Perry wins Pct. 4 commissioner's race
• Election briefs: Volcik wins treasurer race; Bosque voters nix bond; Summers keeps JP job