A former Crisp County commissioner will head to the Georgia Senate after defeating a fellow Republican in a runoff special election.
Carden Summers, who is a real estate broker, received about 500 more votes than his opponent, former Leesburg Mayor Jim Quinn, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State. Both are Republicans.
The two received the most votes out of three candidates in the February special election to replace Sen. Greg Kirk, an Americus Republican who died in December after being diagnosed with bile duct cancer.
Summers received nearly 52% of the about 12,000 votes cast Tuesday, according to unofficial results.
A runoff was required since neither candidate won more than 50% of the votes cast in the special election.
Voters used Georgia's new voting system, which combines touchscreens and printed-out ballots.
Summers previously ran for state Senate in 2002. Quinn finished in second place in a special election for a state House seat in November.
Senate District 13 covers Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Lee, Tift, Turner and Worth counties, as well as parts of Sumter and Wilcox counties.
The seat will be back on the ballot again for a regularly scheduled election in November.
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