Republican Travis Fitzwater retained his seat in the statehouse Tuesday.
Fitzwater defeated Democrat challenger Lisa Buhr in the 49th District race, winning with 67 percent of the vote.
"We won big. We had a significant margin,” Fitzwater said Tuesday night. “Our conservative ideals are what Calloway County and Cole County want in their state representative. I think they voiced that pretty significantly tonight, with a significant win for our campaign."
Fitzwater said he will focus on workforce and economic development, as well as “taking care of schools and protecting life and liberty in our state.”
Fitzwater and Jeanie Riddle, winner of the Senate District 10, attended the Country 54 watch party. Kent Haden, winner of the 43rd District seat, also appeared. Haden claimed victory in his first run for office against Democrat Jamie Blair.
“Jeanie Riddle and Travis Fitzwater were a lot of help in figuring out the pieces of the puzzle,” Haden said on the challenges of running his first campaign.
"I've got great relationships with everyone who got elected and who is about to be elected in Calloway County, and I think that's a huge benefit of Calloway County because we work in unison,” Fitzwater said.
Buhr held her team’s watch party at KACO The Kitchen in Fulton. She said that she will plan on running again in 2020.
“The current representative votes with the party, so it’s all Republican,” Buhr said. “That’s not the district. There are Democrats here too and there’s other ways of looking at things and they’ve been neglected.”
Fitzwater has held office since 2014 when he defeated Gracia Yancey Backer. In 2016, he ran unopposed.