Brazos County will have a new district attorney, but just who that is will be decided in a runoff.

In a four-person race to be the county's top prosecutor, Jarvis Parsons earned the most votes in the Republican primary, but came up short of the majority he needed to win the election outright Tuesday. Parsons and second place finisher David Hilburn will be headed to a runoff July 31.

Parsons earned 48 percent of the votes. Hilburn finished second with 22 percent. Rick Davis was third with 19 percent. Ray Thomas ended up in fourth with 10 percent.

No Democrats ran for the office, one currently held by Democrat Bill Turner. The district attorney since 1983, Turner chose to step down.

Parsons, a prosecutor in the Brazos County district attorney's office since 2002, earned Turner's endorsement. He is currently the chief prosecutor in the 272nd District Court.

Hilburn is a former prosecutor in Harris and Brazos Counties. He started trying cases locally in 2005, and after four years as an assistant district attorney, joined a local law office as a defense attorney.