(Seguin) – The incumbent in the Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace race in Guadalupe County has secured another term on the bench.
Republican Judge Sheryl Sachtleben on Tuesday defeated challenger Willie Ybarra in the county’s only contested JP race. Sachtleben maintained a commanding lead for most of election night.
Sachtleben finished the race with 1,982 of the votes cast, while Ybarra trailed with 1,401 votes.
Sachtleben who expressed gratitude for the community’s vote of confidence, says she looks forward to continuing the work of the court.
“I know that I’ll put in the work. I did not mind the re-election campaign. It gave me an opportunity to meet so many new people with so many great stories along the way. The sweetest comments when somebody you’ve never met before tell you at their door, ‘I’m good. I’m voting for you,’ and you have no clue who they are, I’m thankful. Thankful for voters who believed in me, and they didn’t even know who I am, number one. My husband was totally freaking killer, my backbone, my everything, my whole family was wonderful, very supportive. I do think I work hard, and I worked extremely hard for this campaign and enjoyed every minute of it. And it paid off, and I’m so happy I get to wake up tomorrow and still be everybody’s judge,” said Sachtleben.
Ybarra says while he is disappointed by the outcome, he remains grateful to those who turned out to show their support. He also thanked volunteers and voters who backed his campaign.
“I just want to thank everybody that came out and supported me and just voted for me. I had over 1,400 people vote for me, and I was really happy about that. And I want to thank my family, my wife, and everybody that donated to my campaign. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun actually because I got to meet a lot of wonderful people out in the city and out in the county. It was just a wonderful experience. Again, it was a lot of hard work, but I was just amazed by the people that came out and voted for me and I appreciate that,” said Ybarra.
Since there is no Democratic challenger for JP 2 in November, it will be business as usual for the judge who has served the courtroom for the last 15 years.