After a three-month delay that placed both voters and candidates into unfamiliar territory when it came to forecasting Tuesday’s GOP primary runoff, challenger Jeff Clemons walked away from the race with a decisive victory over incumbent Kenneth Walker in the contest for the chairman’s seat on the Cullman County Commission.

Clemons, who monitored the returns remotely from a socially-distant vantage at a nearby local business, said he was grateful for the vote of confidence that Cullman County residents had placed in him with the victory.

“It’s truly an honor when the citizens have this much trust in you,” he said. “It feels good now to know it’s over. But I want to thank all the great citizens across Cullman County who came out and supported me. This was put off for three and-a-half months, and it did become stressful.

“When you’re out for that long, you lose your momentum. But I started getting back out in June and seeing people across the county — a lot of touching base with folks was through social media — and I’m just grateful that they followed through with their support for me tonight.”

With 50 of 50 boxes reporting late Tuesday, Clemons enjoyed a lead of 9,728 votes over Walker’s 4,916. The wide margin echoed the outcome of the March 3 primary election that just barely put the two into a runoff in the first place, with Clemons earning 10,129 votes against Walker’s 5,642 (and the two last-place challengers combining for an additional 4,625 votes).

With no Democrat on the ballot, Clemons effectively won the chairman’s seat outright with his Tuesday victory. Walker will serve out his term through November, when Clemons will be sworn into office.