TYLER, Texas — The Republican primary race for the Smith County Pct. 3 commissioner seat in March is a three-way race with two challengers facing off against longtime incumbent Terry Phillips.
Precinct 3 covers the entire northern half of Smith County, which includes cities Lindale, Winona, a portion of Overton and Tyler and Hideaway. It is the largest of the four Smith County commissioner precincts.
This year's Republican race includes Phillips, former Winona Mayor Rusty Smith and Cut Beef owner J. Scott Herod. The Democratic primary has two candidates: Dave Hansen and Edith Mayfield Wilson. The top Republican and Democratic finishers will face each other in the November election.
Phillips has served as Pct. 3 commissioner since January 2009. Prior to becoming commissioner, he worked well test analyst at Otis Engineering and later Getty Oil Company, which was purchased by Texaco. He continued at Texaco and began acquiring real estate. He continues managing properties presently, according to the Smith County website.
Smith has served in local government for 14 years, including three terms on Winona City Council and four terms as Winona mayor. He also says he was a volunteer firefighter before the current taxing districts were established. The firefighters had to fundraise to keep the department running.
He worked for Trane Technologies, leading the Information Technology support teams through various projects. He is now working at Brookshire Grocery Co. as a leader of one of the IT teams supporting retail and corporate operations.
Herod has co-owned Cut Beef, a local business that sells naturally pasture-raised beef in East Texas, since 2014. He previously worked in outside sales for Guardsmark, Inc., an international security firm. He then moved on to Bank of America, where he went from banking center manager to consumer market executive to senior vice president.
He left Bank of America in 2012 to become a co-owner of APEC (Athlete Performance Enhancement Center) in Tyler. He later sold his stake in 2014 to open and operate Cut Beef.
Early voting began Feb. 20 and runs for just under two weeks. Election Day is March 5. For more information about voting hours and locations, click here.