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Eight years after Doug Overbey defeated the incumbent to win the Republican nomination for the 20th District House seat, he beat another incumbent in the primary to earn the GOP slot in the 8th District Senate race in November.

State Rep. Overbey slipped past state Sen. Raymond Finney on Thursday by a vote of 10,138 to 9,988 — a margin of 150 votes.

Sevier County put him over the top. Overbey won there 4,421 to 3,076. Finney carried Blount County 6,912 to 5,717.

“I’ve been a state representative from Blount County for eight years, and I’ve worked hard at that job both in terms of handling legislation and constituent services and run three times without opposition, and I’ve appreciate that support folks in Blount County have given me,” Overbey said at his home following the final returns of the day.

He speculated on why he carried Sevier County by a significant margin.

“I think the folks in Sevier County have felt the pinch of funding for school systems a little bit more than the folks here in Blount County.

“The way they opened their hearts and stretched out their arms to Kay and me over the past several months has really been overwhelming and humbling, and I’m really grateful for everyone that has voted and is going to allow me this opportunity.”

The victory came at a high price in a campaign the candidates themselves characterized as negative and sour with accusations about spreading falsehoods and name calling.

Overbey’s campaign disclosure showed reported expenditures of $212,199 through July 28. Finney’s report disclosed spending of $138,851.

Like eight years ago, an Overbey victory in the general election in November is essentially guaranteed. The Democrats did not field a candidate in Thursday’s primary.

In the House primary race to pick a Republican successor to Overbey as the 20th District Representative, Blount County Commission Chairman Bob Ramsey won with 44 percent of the vote in a four-candidate field.

He drew 3,169 votes, followed by Steve Hargis (1,783), Jim Melton (1,178) and Tona Monroe-Ball (1,053).

For Finney, the race isn’t necessarily over. When asked if a loss here would be the end of his political career, he replied:

“If I lose this, I probably won’t get into this (politics). Politics has become so, so — yeah, I was hurt.

“But I’m not conceding this. We will have a recount. We’re going to have to see if there are irregularities that need investigating. We’ll look at a lot of things in Sevier County very carefully. We have problems in Sevier County that we need to look at, I believe.”

He said he will be considering his options.

“I’ll have to sort all this out in the next day or two and see where we go from here. But I’m not conceding. And the paper ballots, I understand, haven’t been counted. So it may even be closer than we think at this point,” Finney said.

The state senator criticized his opponent’s campaign.

“My opponent outspent me by $100,000. He misrepresented many things that I stood for. With this constant barrage of false information, I think I did very well.

“And I appreciate my supporters, they’ve just been great, a lot of encouragement, a lot of help and I can’t thank them enough.”

Overbey said the Sevier County results came in first, and he knew he had a 1,345-vote lead going into Blount. He needed almost all of it, finally winning by 150 votes out of 20,126 cast.

He was at his home with family and supporters when the final results came in.

“When we knew we had a about a 200 vote margin, a great shout went up through our house. Everybody was hugging and celebrating.

“When that quietened down, we got everyone together and the first thing we did was — one of my good friends I was in Carson-Newman College with was here — and first we offered a prayer and gave thanks to God for his many blessings.”