TAZEWELL—After a close and heated race against incumbent Micheal Williams, Republican Mike Faulk was elected to represent the 4th District in the State Senate on Tuesday.

Although Williams, the only Independent in the state Senate, carried Claiborne County by nearly 1,000 votes he fell short in the District by a mere 246 votes giving Faulk the win.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the final unofficial count came in at 29,417 for Faulk, a Hawkins County lawyer, and 29,171 for Williams.

Williams was elected in 1990 as a House Representative and has since remained in Nashville serving in both the House and Senate. He is a resident of Maynardville, Tenn., and an avid Nascar fan.

“I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s been a wonderful experience,” said Williams, when reached by phone Tuesday night. “I appreciate everyone who has supported me over the years, and during this campaign. It has been an honor to serve the people of this district, and I wish only the best for them.”

Williams said he will be fulfilling several obligations over the coming weeks but has no other plans in place yet.

Faulk has been a lawyer in Church Hill for over 25 years. According to his website, he was

elected to Who’s Who in American Law in 1987-1988. In 1993 he was chosen as one of America’s Leading Lawyers and was listed as one of the Outstanding Lawyers of America in both 2002 & 2003. Just recently Law & Politics named Faulk as one of the 2007 Super Lawyers of the Mid-South.

Faulk could not be reached for comment.

In the race for the 35th Congressional District State House of Representatives seat Dennis “Coach” Roach won by a landslide against Independent candidate Edward Baldwin.

Roach, a Republican, was re-elected to serve another term in the House by 13,628 votes while challenger Ed Baldwin received 5,392 votes. In Claiborne County Roach received 6,049 votes while Baldwin received 3,081 votes. According to reports from the Knoxville News-Sentinel Dennis “Coach” Roach easily held off a challenge from the candidate who described himself as being “to the right of Ronald Reagan” in the 35th District.

Republicans Lamar Alexander and Zach Wamp were both re-elected to serve another term in Washington. Alexander brought in 1,299,335 votes beating Democrat candidate Robert Tuke by just over 750,000 votes. Alexander carried Claiborne County with 7,094 votes. Zach Wamp was re-elected to the 3rd US House District over Democrat candidate Doug Vandagriff. Wamp had 184,787 votes while Vandagriff had 73,030 votes over all. Wamp also carried Claiborne County with 6,610 votes, over 3,000 more votes than Vandagriff.

In the Presidential election Claiborne County, along with the state of Tennessee, chose John McCain and Sarah Palin as President and Vice President. McCain and Palin received 7,174 votes in Claiborne County while Barack Obama and Joe Biden received 3,078 votes.

In local elections, Linda B. Fultz was elected as Alderman for the East Ward of Harrogate and Lieven T. Cox was elected to represent the West Ward of Harrogate as an Alderman. Both are returning aldermen for the City of Harrogate.

In the city of Cumberland Gap Bill McGaffee, Joan Webb, and Anne Parish were all re-elected as Aldermen and John D. Douglas was elected Mayor of Cumberland Gap by only three votes. Douglas was running against John O. Adams, the city’s fire chief. Adams received 58 votes and Douglas received 61 votes.

In another local race, Bruce Webb was elected as Constable in the 9th District of Claiborne County.