The Texas July 14 election featured two main races that cover the Four Points area: the runoff for Texas House of Representatives – District 47 and Texas Senate District 14.

Republican Justin Berry claimed victory with 55% of the vote in the runoff for District 47 against Jennifer Fleck, who received 45% with 101 total polling locations reporting.  

Berry will now face Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D) in the November election. They are vying to represent District 47, which covers the western and southern parts of Travis County.

Several weeks ago, Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed Austin police officer Berry and recently, the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group focused on state legislative races, endorsed Berry. It announced it would help him as part of a $200,000 investment across five Texas House runoffs.

Berry is a 12-year senior police officer who recently received the Civic Leadership Award for his work with local charities. According to his website, the Austin native is a small business owner. He said he “knows firsthand the difficulties of excessive taxes and regulations that stifle entrepreneurs from achieving their dreams.” If elected as a state representative, Berry said he will use his background in law enforcement to protect the city, schools and private property.  

KVUE reports during her time as a Texas representative, Goodwin has helped pass several bills. She co-authored a bill on school finance reform (HB 3), and a bill that boosted retired teacher pay (SB 12). Goodwin, who is a University of Texas graduate, worked in the real estate market for 15 years and has participated in several local charities in civic programs, according to her campaign’s website.  

Former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt was leading the way in the special election to replace former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, though it appeared she would still be heading to a runoff with state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez.

Eckhardt, who needed 50% of the vote to win the election outright, was hovering around 49.6% on Tuesday night. Rodriguez, the other Democrat in the race, was running second with 34% of the vote, according to election returns.

There are still ballots left to count. Election day totals were still being counted, and mail-in ballots that were postmarked on election day will be part of the final tallies if county officials receive them by 5 p.m. Wednesday.