Garry Marchman enjoyed a comfortable margin in Tuesday’s Republican primary, easing his way toward a second term as Cullman County’s Place 2 (west side) associate commissioner to finish out a mostly-amiable race against challenger Andy Coffey.

Marchman won the seat with a final count of 8,995 votes to Coffey’s 6,191, with only a small handful of outstanding provisional and absentee ballots too few in number to affect the final outcome. With Tuesday’s victory, Marchman faces no Democratic opposition in this fall’s general election.

Marchman’s first term unfolded alongside a life-threatening personal health crisis, after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and endured a lengthy and arduous treatment process beginning in the summer of 2015.

At the Cullman Civic Center Tuesday, though, he appeared miles removed from those darker times.

“I’m not gonna let up,” said a relaxed Marchman, surrounded by family and friends. “I’m gonna hammer down like I’ve always wanted. I know a little more now than I did four years ago, and I know more about the things that we need to stay focused on as a county.

Coffey could not be reached for comment by deadline for this article.

Marchman said he’s relieved to put the political season behind him and turn his attention toward the next four years — the next two of which he’s assured to spend working with the present commission lineup of Place 1(east side) Commissioner Kerry Watson and Commission Chairman Kenneth Walker.

“It’s tough,” Marchman said of the past campaign season. “It’s not so much the long hours — though that is part of it. It’s more just the mental stress of trying to get to the right place at the right time and talk to people, and it’s trying to get the people to understand what your focus is; what you’re trying to do for the future.”

“But,” he added, “we can finally rest a little now.”

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 145.