Republican Tim Griffin defeated Democrat Joyce Elliott on Tuesday night for the 2nd Congressional District seat vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder.
With 112 of 412 precincts reporting at 9 p.m., Griffin was ahead of Elliott 49,727 votes 31,995
At the GOP watch party in Little Rock, there was a roar of support as AP called it for Griffin.
Griffin, flanked by his wife, daughter and a number of volunteers and staffers, took the stage at his watch party just before 10:30 p.m.
He began his 10-minute speech by telling the crowd of his victory was important for the party as a whole.
"In case you all didn't know, we needed 39 seats to take control of the House of Representatives. I just got a call: We were 39," Griffin said to loud applause.
Elliott hadn't conceded the race by 10:30.
Griffin led Elliott by double-digit percentages in polls. He also had a sizable lead in contributions.
Griffin, an attorney, has been accused of helping Republicans suppress voting by poor blacks in Florida, a charge he denies and which Democrats say he is lying about.
Elliott, a state senator and former public school teacher, has been accused of a character lapse for citing some of the public accusations that have been made against Griffin about the voter suppression controversy and his role in supplanting former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Little Rock without undergoing the usual congressional quizzing.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.