State Rep. Al Williams won re-election easily to his House District 168 seat, getting 11,433 votes to challenger Kevin Remillard’s 5,282. More than 11,000 county residents cast their ballots in early voting, which ended October 30. Between in-person advanced voting and drop box/mail-in, 11,834 ballots were cast prior to election day today.

There are 39,950 registered voters in Liberty County and turnout was 42.6%.

Williams won 71% of the ballots cast in early voting, or 7,782 out of 10,987. He took 60.6% of the ballots cast on election day, or 3,023 out of 4,989.

When he is sworn into office in January before the start of the General Assembly session, the Midway Democrat will be starting his 13th term under the Gold Dome.

Buddy Deloach, the former Hinesville mayor, won re-election to his District 167 seat against Nathaniel Hicks Jr. Deloach, a Townsend Republican, captured nearly 62% of the votes in the district, or 13,243. Hicks outpolled Deloach in Liberty County 71-34 but Deloach enjoyed large margins in three of the other four counties that are part of the district — McIntosh, Glynn and Wayne.

State Sen. Ben Watson fended off Corey Foreman to keep his 1st District seat. Watson, a Chatham County Republican, received 38,692 votes, or 52.3%. Foreman, from Richmond Hill, 35,364 votes. Foreman topped Watson in Liberty County with 11,391 votes to 5,460.

David Sikes won the open Senate District 19 seat, taking more than 70% of the votes against Joshua Wilkerson. Sikes, a Republican, received 39,559 votes in the race to replace Blake Tillery, who gave up the post to run for lieutenant governor. Sikes outpolled Wilkerson 2,615-2,318 in Long County, one of 11 counties that are part of that Senate district.

Jim Kingston, son of former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, narrowly edged Amanda Hollowell for the U.S. House 1st District seat. Kingston won by less than 3%, just over 7,700 votes out of more than 272,000 cast. The seat was open after longtime U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter gave up the seat to run for Senate.