Jason Carter

With nearly two-thirds of the vote in, former state House member Tom Graves of Ranger is assured of a spot in a runoff in the contest for the 9th District congressional race – but against who remains unknown two hours after the polls have closed.

See the latest results here at Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s Web site.

In the race to replace Nathan Deal in Congress, Graves has won 35.2 percent of the vote, compared to to 18.5 percent for former state senator Lee Hawkins of Gainesville and 18.4 percent for businessman Steve Tarvin.

The contest was billed as a test of strength of the tea party movement in Georgia – with Graves as the candidate backed by the financial backers of the movement – including the Washington-based Club for Growth and FreedomWorks.

The difference appears to be Graves’ strong performance in what was thought to be Hawkins’ geographic stronghold of Hall County (Graves at 1,539; Hawkins at 2,971) and Forsyth County (Graves at 2,958 and Hawkins at 1,306).

In metro Atlanta, attorney Jason Carter – grandson of the former president – is cruising to a victory for the District 42 state Senate seat with 66.5 percent over 23.6 percent for attorney Thomas Stubbs.