(Seguin) — There’s indeed a new Sheriff in town. Joshua Ray, the chief deputy of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, earned substantial support during Tuesday’s GOP Primary Election. Ray defeated Patrick Pinder for the position of Guadalupe County Sheriff. Ray received 13,583 of the votes cast, while Pinder received 4,515 votes.
Since there is no Democratic challenger during the November General Election, Ray will assume the new role as Sheriff in January 2025.
Ray, who will replace longtime Sheriff Arnold Zwicke, says he was overwhelmed by the incredible level of support that was shown by voters.
“I’m just amazingly thankful. Everybody that knows me, knows that I’m a man of faith and God’s blessed me in so many ways and he continues to do that. I’ve got so many supporters, so many family –– my wife for standing next to me and being with me through this journey. And I can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate Sheriff Zwicke and his leadership and his trust in me and everything he’s done. And then just the voters of Guadalupe County placing their trust in me after they’ve had the same man leading the helm for so long. I’m so extremely thankful for this opportunity,” Ray said.
Ray for the last year has served under the leadership of Sheriff Zwicke. Ray says he is honored to have learned the ropes in hopes of building upon Zwicke’s success over the last 20 years.
“We’ve got a lot of growth coming to our community and we’ve got challenges, but we have a very good sheriff’s office, and we have outstanding men and women of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s office that go out every single day and work tirelessly to serve and protect our community. It’s been one of my greatest privileges in my life to be able to lead them as the Chief Deputy under Sheriff Zwicke, but to be able to continue that as the Sheriff and lead them into the future –– I can’t say enough,” Ray said.
Ray also thanked Pinder who currently serves as the Guadalupe County Emergency Management Coordinator and Fire Marshal. He says Pinder should be commended for running a clean race.
“I also want to extend some thanks to Patrick Pinder and the race that we had. We didn’t have a lot of problems in our race, you know, there was really no negative campaigning, so I’m very appreciative of that. It was a clean race. I’m thankful for that,” Ray said.
Pinder was unavailable for comment following Tuesday’s results.
Meanwhile, a pair of incumbents on Tuesday also secured their respective Guadalupe County Constable positions by picking up the GOP nomination in their race.
Incumbent Jeff Large defeated challenger Jim O. Wolverton II for the position of Guadalupe County Constable Pct. 3.
Large received 2,924 of the votes cast while Wolverton received 1,234 votes.
Earning the nomination for Guadalupe County Constable Pct. 4 was Harvey Faulkner. Faulkner defeated challenger J.C. Batey. Faulkner led the race with 2,932 of the votes cast. Batey followed behind with 1,299 votes.
Like the sheriff’s race, both constable positions do not face Democratic challengers in November.