Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen Chuck Payne waits for election results at Republican headquarters on Tuesday.

DALTON, Ga. — Chuck Payne is Georgia’s next state Senator.

Payne, a former chairman of the Whitfield County Republican Party, handily won a special election runoff Tuesday over former Whitfield County Board of Commissioners member Debby Peppers for the state Senate District 54 seat. Payne received 65.41 percent of the votes (4,429 votes) to Peppers’ 34.59 percent (2,342 votes), according to unofficial results posted on the state Secretary of State’s website.

“I’m very humbled,” Payne said. “I’ve worked many years in Georgia politics, and I understand what this means. I’m appreciative of the support and the trust the voters have shown for me. I will not forget that trust. That’s my main goal when I get to Atlanta, to make sure I am truly a representative of the people of the 54th District.”

The 54th District includes all of Whitfield and Murray counties and parts of Gordon and Pickens counties.

Payne and Peppers were the top two in a five-way special election to fill the term of former state Sen. Charlie Bethel, a Republican from Dalton, who was appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals by Gov. Nathan Deal in November, a day after Bethel was elected to a fourth term.

Payne finished first in the special election in December with 36.1 percent of the vote followed by Peppers with 27.4 percent, but because neither gained a majority the race went to a runoff.

While the two candidates were largely respectful of each other during most of the race, in the final weeks the campaign turned increasingly negative. Payne faced advertising focusing on the fact that he’d declared bankruptcy in 2013. Payne, in turn, focused on Peppers’ support of liberal Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in their pursuit of the presidency.

“I’ve been working in Georgia politics for 25 years,” he said. “I know how these things go. We tried to ignore the negative things that were slung at us. My staff and I stayed focused on the issues and stayed true to ourselves. We finished first, by nine percentage points, in the special election, so we knew the voters saw something in us, so we decided to just keep doing what we had been doing.”

Peppers said she congratulated Payne on doing a good job of getting his voters out.

“I’m really thankful to those who voted for me in a race that I knew would be an uphill struggle from the start,” she said. “I appreciate all my volunteers and their tireless efforts. That was probably the best part of the campaign. I glad that our campaign exceeded expectations. That shows that north Georgia doesn’t speak with one voice.”

Though Peppers did not list a party affiliation on the ballot, she said she would caucus with the Democrats if elected, a point Payne, who listed his affiliation as Republican, and his supporters noted during the race in a district which has been heavily Republican for years.

The latest session of the Legislature began Monday, and Payne, who retired last year as a Juvenile Court probation officer, says he is eager to join his fellow lawmakers.

“From what I have been told, the results (of the runoff) will have to be certified by the Secretary of State’s office. That will probably be Friday. But Monday is a holiday and all of next week the Legislature is not in session, so it could be a week from Monday before I am sworn in. That’s what I’ve been told anyway,” he said.

Peppers said the campaign had re-energized her interest in community involvement.

“I made a lot of contacts in various civic organizations, and I plan to join them and work on various civic projects and efforts,” she said.