Holt appears to be winner in state rep race

Janis Holt of Silsbee appears to have unseated District 18 State Rep. Ernest Bailes of Shepherd in Tuesday’s Republican Primary. The results are unofficial, but with a large majority of precincts in the four-county district reporting, Holt received enough votes to defeat Bailes and to avoid a runoff. With 27,140 votes counted in the district, Holt had received a total of 14,420 votes, or 53.13…