Republican Jason Dickerson defeated a nationally backed Democratic challenger in a runoff special election Tuesday to represent a state Senate district in parts of Fulton and Cherokee counties.

Dickerson beat Democrat Debra Shigley, the top vote-getter in last month’s seven-way special election, in a conservative district in north-metro Atlanta.

Dickerson could not immediately be reached late Tuesday.

But he appeared to be on pace to have a more modest showing than previous Republican landslides in this long-held GOP district. With Fulton County’s Election Day votes still needing to be talliedonline records from the Secretary of State’s office showed him having less than two-thirds of the vote. Fulton County is heavily Democratic.

The previous state senator who represented the area,

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