Republican candidates David Sibley and Brian Birdwell came in No. 1 and No. 2 in Saturday’s state Senate special election, but neither earned a majority of the votes and the contest continues.

Gov. Rick Perry will call a runoff after the vote has been certified.

The order of finish was:

Republicans Brian Birdwell (left) and David Sibley are headed to a runoff.

*  Sibley, a former state senator and Waco mayor, led the field with 13,420 votes, or 45 percent of the total;

*  Birdwell, a Granbury resident, received 10,889 votes, or 36.5 percent;

*  Gayle Avant, a Woodway Democrat, received 3,968 votes, or 13.3 percent; and

*  Darren Yancy, a Burleson Republican, received 1,559 votes, or 5.2 percent.

“I like where we are,” said Sibley as the final votes were trickling in. He said he thought his strategy would carry him in the upcoming runoff, which is likely to draw a smaller and more conservative set of voters.

Sibley, the favorite of Waco’s civic leaders, won handily in McLennan County by a greater than 3-1 margin. He also won by sizable margins in Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Falls and Hill counties.

It was a different story, though, in the traditionally conservative northwest corner of the district, where Birdwell won Hood, Johnson and Somervell counties by healthy margins.

Birdwell’s home county experienced record turnout, according to the Hood County News, which partly attributed the turnout to a heated Granbury mayoral contest. Birdwell’s lead in Hood County was 2,806 votes.

Birdwell and Sibley’s campaigns have tussled in recent weeks to frame the race.

Sibley stressed his breadth of experience in public office on the stump and with a number of endorsements, including one from former President George W. Bush.

Meanwhile, Birdwell played up his conservative bona fides. His campaign staff also spotlighted Sibley’s work as a lobbyist. Sibley left the legislature in 2002 and took up lobbying.

Birdwell works as a motivational speaker for WallBuilders, an Aledo-based evangelical group that’s been active in the recent scrapes concerning Texas’ public school textbooks. But he’s more well-known as a Sept. 11 survivor. His radio spots describe the harrowing event, the burns he suffered and his subsequent recovery.

Democratic contender

Avant, a Baylor University political scientist, came in a distant third in the contest, and got the most traction in McLennan and Falls counties.

Democratic Party chair Karen Petree noted that Avant trailed all the Republicans in the contest in fundraising and had far less money than Birdwell and Sibley.

“We’re proud he did as well as he did, especially in his home county,” Petree said.

Serving rest of term

The winner of the runoff will serve out the remaining half a year of state Sen. Kip Averitt’s term. Averitt resigned in March after winning a GOP primary against Yancy.

He had announced several months earlier that he wouldn’t actively campaign because of health problems related to diabetes and high blood pressure.

But it’s not yet clear who will represent the district during the 2011 legislative session.

Democratic and Republican party leaders in the district will each have the chance to put up a candidate for the November election.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

757-5707

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