Chris Roberts

Republicans Wayne Allen and Chris Roberts will meet in a May 24 runoff to decide the next constable for Smith County Pct. 2.

Former Pct. 2 Constable Joshua Black was found guilty in September of using his position to request sexual favors from a woman who was asking for supervised visitation with her child. He was sentenced to six months in the Smith County Jail, fined $4,000 and removed from office.

Shawn Scott, a retired law enforcement officer, has served as interim constable.

Unofficial Smith County election results show Allen received 4,450 votes, or 48.06%. He was followed by Roberts, who received 2,562 votes, or 27.67%.

Deal Folmar, a third candidate in the race, received 2,248 votes, or 24.28%.

A candidate must earn more than 50% of the votes to avoid a runoff.

The winner of the May runoff faces no Democratic challenger on the November ballot.

“It’s no surprise with the support that I had I came out on top,” Allen said Wednesday. “We’ll just have to keep that support to push through for the runoff that comes in May and make sure we get our voters back out to vote again.”

Even with a runoff, Allen said the “passion” of his voters’ support for him will continue.

He worked for the Tyler Police Department for 28 years and previously told the Morning Telegraph that during that time, he often considered running for a county office in which he could better serve the community.

For the past three years, Allen has been district manager at Home Depot, where he supervises more than 1,000 associates, he said.

When Black was arrested, Allen said he “felt a stirring to get back into law enforcement.”

“I’m not running for money. It’s not gonna be for any kind of selfish ambitions at all,” he said previously. “It’s just to return to serving the community and doing a job that I absolutely loved doing for 28 years with the city of Tyler.”

Allen said he looks to be there for the public and bring back integrity, transparency and professionalism to the Pct. 2 constable office.

With his experience, Allen said, “I’ve proven in the 28 actual years that I’ve worked at Tyler PD that I can serve with integrity.”

Roberts has been a police officer for 25 years, has served as a reserve deputy constable for the past seven years and is a business owner. In all of these experiences, “People trust me on a daily basis, and I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done.”

With his experience as a reserve deputy constable, Roberts said, “I already know how the office operates, and I know all of the employees down there, so the transition would be seamless.”

Along with his law enforcement experience, owning a successful business has taught him how to work with budgets, payrolls and people, Roberts previously told the Morning Telegraph. If elected, he said he could bring his business experience to the office to help with areas such as budgets.

“In business, you want to provide the best product you can at the cheapest price,” he said. “With the constable’s office, my product is law enforcement service, and I want to provide the best possible service.”

Roberts also said he looks to always be available to the community and serve as a resource to the public, Bullard Police Department and Tyler Police Department

“It’s important that whatever you say you live that out, and I’ve done that in my business career. I’ve done that in my law enforcement career,” he said.

Roberts said he is at a point in his life where he is ready and able to serve the community. When it comes to seeking office, he said his only desire is to serve the community.

“I feel confident. If I didn’t feel confident, I wouldn’t be running,” he said. “I feel confident that I can connect with the voters, and I think I’ll do well.”