Election for Angelina County Judge among six contested county races

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - Across Texas, early voting began February 14 and will end on February 25. The election for Angelina County Judge is one of six contested County races in this year’s Republican Primary. The incumbent, Don Lymbery, is being challenged by former city manager of Lufkin and Diboll, Keith Wright.

Primary election day is March 1. Republican Keith Wright is running against Incumbent Don Lymbery for the county judge position. The winner of the primary will be sworn in county judge on January 1, 2023. Keith Wright is a registered professional civil engineer who has worked at the city of Lufkin for over thirty years. He said the current issues within the county have concerned him.

“It hurts us to come across as dysfunctional, and I think what I want to do is change that perception. And I want the county to work as a team, not only with the other elected officials, but with all the cities within the county; that’s my biggest concern,” Wright said.

If elected, Wright would like to fix what he calls issues with leadership, the criminal justice system, and improve future planning.

“There needs to be a master plan for the county because we don’t know where we’re going or how we’re going to get there. Not only with our facilities, the courthouse, the airport, the landfill, the Cassels Boykin Park. There’s many facilities that the county has and it’s just going from year to year based on budget to budget, and there’s no thought process in what is the future,” Wright said.

Angelina County Judge Don Lymbery is a retired air force veteran and has lived in Angelina County for the past 44 years. He says he is running for re-election because he hopes to continue his “business conservative” approach.

“The county employees hadn’t had a raise in five years. We got them a raise last year and still kept the tax rate down. These are not easily done. You have to really take a hard look at what you can do to save the most money, but there is much more to do,” Lymbery said.

Lymbery said he is happy with the progress of the unit road system. He also hopes to use ARPA funds to expand the county jail.

“We’ve kept the same low tax rate four years in a row. I am very proud of that. I promised everybody when I first ran for election that I am a very conservative business person and I wanted to keep that tax rate low,” Lymbery said.

To find a polling location that is most convenient for you for the March 1st election day, you may visit Angelinacounty.net/elections .