LEFT: Tom Munson (left) is pictured with Patrick Howard Tuesday night at the Brown County Elections Office after election returns showed Munson had defeated Howard in the race for Brown County Judge. RIGHT: Brown County Precinct 4 Commissioners Larry Traweek (left) congratulates Brandon Byars at the Brown County Elections office Tuesday night after election returns showed Byars was on his way to upsetting Traweek in the runoff. {Photos, quotes courtesy of Steve Nash}

There will be both a new Brown County Judge, as well as a new Precinct 4 County Commissioner, following Tuesday’s runoff elections in Brown County.

The top two vote recipients in the March 3 general election for county judge, Tom Munson tallied 2,366 votes in the runoff – or 55.96% – to the 1,862 votes of Patrick Howard – or 44.04%.

“It’s very humbling, and all the sudden you find yourself touching 38,000-plus people with what you do,” Munson said after the final numbers were revealed. “It’s a big job, there’s a lot to be done, and I certainly appreciate the support of everybody that helped me with my campaign, that gave me words of encouragement, that voted and put up my signs. I appreciate Mr. Howard and the campaign he ran. He worked really hard and I can see that. He never gave up.”

Needing at least 50.1% of the vote in the March 3 election to avoid a runoff, Munson received 3,001 votes, or 48.13%, while Howard came in second with 2,554 votes, or 40.96%, to advance. Incumbent County Judge Shane Britton, who in November 2025 was arrested on five charges and has since been suspended without pay, tallied 680 votes, or 10.91%.

“A lot of times the winner of the primary will lose in the runoff, there’s examples even in this room, so I didn’t feel like I had it in the bag by any means,” Munson said.

As for what’s next for Munson, with the current County Judge suspended and the 2026-27 fiscal year budget process about to begin, he said, “I don’t know at what point I take the position as the judge, that has to be decided. But to the extent I’m involved, it will be basically trying to understand the numbers that we have right now, and wade through all that so you can make good decisions on how to move forward.”

Munson said of his priorities once he takes office, “No. 1 will be the budget, No. 2 will be to get the court rolling, and No. 3 will be to get everything flowing smoothly throughout the county. I think Joel Kelton’s done a really good job as judge pro tem, so I think we’re in pretty good shape, but there’s a lot of work to do.”

Howard said in response to Tuesday’s outcome, “I first want to thank everyone who supported me. I’m real proud of the race we ran. We worked really hard and ran really hard because of all the good things this county has given to me and my family. That was our passion, and we believe we have a message that the county needed to hear, and we took it to all parts of the county. I’m a big believer in you finish what you started, and we started this campaign the first day we could apply for county judge. We stood outside until the last day, even in the rain, until 7 o’clock. We were going to fight for every vote that we could get.”

In the Precinct 4 County Commissioner runoff race, Brandon Byars upset incumbent Larry Traweek.

Byars, who received 153 fewer votes than Traweek on March 3, recorded 586 votes – or 51.72% in the runoff. Traweek tallied 547 votes, which was 48.28%.

“I didn’t know if I would win but I knew it would be close,” Byars said shortly after finding out the final result of the runoff election. “I spent every minute that I could here, during early voting and even all day today. I didn’t even leave for lunch because I knew Larry was going to be that hard to beat, and he was. This was the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Traweek said of the result, “I guess it was time for a change, but I do thank everyone that did vote for me, and Brandon will probably make a good one. I knew it was going to be close. I’ve had 20 years of it, so I’m all right. I’m good.”

The March race for Precinct 4 County Commissioner saw Traweek garner 707 votes, or 43.51%, which was not enough to avoid a runoff. Byars tallied 554 votes, or 34.09%, while Doug Jester placed third with 364 votes, or 22.4%.

On Election Day, 1,771 ballots were cast after 2,448 turned out for early voting for a total of 4,219 – or 16.5% of 25,598 registered voters in Brown County.