In a significant victory Tuesday night, Shannon Whitfield clinched the Republican party nomination for sole county commissioner of Walker County, trouncing his opponent, Mike Peardon, by several thousand votes.
Final totals came in at 4,456 for Whitfield to 1,473 for Peardon. Whitfield will now try to unseat incumbent sole commissioner Bebe Heiskell who is running as an independent for the first time in 15 years.
Heiskell has won the previous four elections for her position as a Republican, but chose to run as an independent this year saying the party had become too extreme.
Walker County voters also spoke out in support of a transition away from the sole county commissioner position to a board of commissioners. In total, 4,503 voters said they would support the move while 1,480 said they would like the position to remain untouched.