Bart Korman got a vote of confidence from his supporters in Montgomery County. The message was clear.

The 34-year-old High Hill resident won in a landslide in the Montgomery County portion of the 99th District and received 45.5 percent of the vote overall in the three-way race for the House of Representatives seat.

Unofficially, he amassed 3,285 votes to win the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s election. Jan Sutherland, of Warrenton, was second with 2,425 votes, or 33.6 percent. Rick Smith, of Jonesburg, finished third with 1,510 votes, or 20.9 percent.

The race was decided on Korman’s home turf as he collected 1,379 votes in Montgomery County compared to Sutherland’s 348 and Smith’s 410.

“I was glad to see the people I grew up with and known for a long time supported me,” Korman said. “People in Warren County also supported me.”

In Warren County, Sutherland had 2,077 votes, followed by Korman’s 1,906 and Smith’s, 1,100.

“It makes me feel good to see numbers strong in every precinct,” Korman said. “We were strong everywhere.”

Korman’s win in Tuesday’s primary election also makes up for a loss to Mike Sutherland in the Republican primary in 2002. Sutherland has been the state representative since, but  could not run again due to state term limits.

Korman, who will be unopposed in November’s general election, will take office in January.

Since the results in Montgomery County were delayed for some time due to a reporting malfunction, it led to some agonizing moments for the top two vote-getters.

“I had a feeling I had won, but there was no solid evidence,” Korman said.

Sutherland was attempting to follow in her son’s footsteps. 

“I want to thank all the people who worked hard and supported me,” said Sutherland, who is currently serving her second term on the Warren County R-III School Board. “This was a positive experience for me, but I will go back to my first passion serving on the school board. I want to thank Bart for running a clean and honest campaign. I wish Bart well in his experience in Jeff City.” 

Korman said previously he doesn’t have a set agenda, but is in favor of  infrastructure improvements and  job creation. He feels his background — he is employed as an engineer and surveyor at Warrenton-based Lewis-Bade, Inc. — can help with future economic development.

“I’m looking forward to representing the people in Jefferson City,”

The 99th District covers nearly all of Warren County and a large portion of Montgomery County.