In a tight race, Colton Moore won the Republican nomination for the state Senate District 53 seat in Tuesday's primary, while incumbents in the other state Senate and House primary races across Northwest Georgia enjoyed victories.
The District 53 seat was vacated by the retirement of Jeff Mullis, who held the seat for 22 years. Moore defeated Mullis' pick for the seat, Steven Henry, who resigned as Catoosa County Commission chairman to run.
Moore received 14,631 votes, and Henry 13,804. No Democrats qualified to run for the District 53 seat. District 53 includes Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties and portions of Chattooga County
For the District 54 state Senate seat, incumbent Chuck Payne defeated challenger Doug Keener. Payne won with 16,382 votes, compared to Keener's 7,886. District 54 is made up of Whitfield and Murray counties, and much of Gordon County. No Democrats qualified for that seat either.
In District 52, incumbent Chuck Hufstetler easily defeated two challengers: Derek Keeney and Jeff Lewis. Hufstetler received 16,757 votes, while Lewis received 6,251 and Keeney 3,886. Floyd County is the heart of District 52, but it also contains about half of Gordon and Bartow counties and roughly the southern third of Chatooga County.
In state House races, Republican District 1 incumbent Mike Cameron defeated Jackie Harling, winning 6,146 votes compared to her 1,954. District 1 includes Dade County and a portion of Walker County.
In District 2, Republican incumbent Steve Tarvin received 6,581 votes, while neither of his challengers, Jim Coles and Todd Noblitt. got more than 2,000. District 2 is made up of part of the eastern half of Walker County and part of Catoosa and Whitfield counties.
In another close race, Mitchell Horner defeated Darrell Weldon Sr. to fill the House District 3 seat after incumbent Dewayne Hill's retirement. Horner received 4,725 votes, and Weldon 4,031. District 3 is most of Catoosa County.
In District 4, incumbent Kasey Carpenter won 4,138 votes compared to challenger Nick Voyles' 1,603. District 4 is made up of part of Whitfield County.
In District 6, incumbent Jason Ridley bested Lee Coker by winning 6,159 votes. Coker garnered 3,112. District 6 includes parts of Whitfield and Murray counties,
No Democrats qualified for any of the state House races mentioned above.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.
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