But one of the candidates who was defeated Tuesday, Tom Stubbs, will soon have another chance to win the seat for a full term.

Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, won 65.6 percent of the vote in the District 42 special election, with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, in unofficial results.

Stubbs, also a Decatur attorney and president of the DeKalb Bar Association, came in second with 23.0 percent of the vote.

It was a non-partisan election, but both Carter and Stubbs are Democrats and party affiliation was included on the ballot.

Libertarian David Montane won 7.5 percent.

Independent Steve Patrick won 3.9 percent.

Carter will represent the State Senate district until the term ends in early January, 2011.

Carter and Stubbs will face each other again in the July 20 primary election.  The winner of that election will take the seat for a full, two year term beginning in January, since there are no other candidates running in the primary for the seat.

During the special election campaign, Carter rarely mentioned his political ancestry, saying he wanted to win or lose on his own.  But last Saturday he acknowledged and embraced it by welcoming Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter to DeKalb County to help him campaign, and they handed out brochures and shook the hands of suprised and sometimes star-struck voters.

Jason Carter will be the first member of his family to hold public office since Pres. Carter left office in January, 1981.  Pres. Carter began his political career in the Georgia State Senate, winning election in 1962 in a SW Georgia district that included his hometown of Plains.

There were two other special elections Tuesday to fill the seats vacated by two legislators, Sen. Lee Hawkins and Rep. Tom Graves, who resigned to run for Congress,

Serving until the end of the year in Senate District 49 will be Butch Miller, a Republican auto dealer from Flowery Branch who got 77.6 percent of the vote against two other candidates, with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.

Miller and one of the candidates he defeated Tuesday, Republican Jimmy Norman, a Flowery Branch real estate broker, will face each other again in the July 20th primary election.  The winner of that election will serve a full, two-year term in the State Senate, since there are no other candidates running.

Serving until the end of the year in House District 12 will be a retired county extension agent, Republican Rick Jasperse of Jasper, who got 71.2 percent of the vote against two other candidates, with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.

The July 20th primary election in House District 12 will determine who runs in November for a full, two-year term.  The ballot will have the names of the same three candidates who ran in Tuesday's non-partisan special election. 

Jasperse will face Republican Truett Moss, a small business owner from Calhoun, for the GOP nomination.  Also running in the July 20th primary will be one Democrat, an electrician from Rydal, Jerry Nally; since Nally is the only Democrat in the race, he will automatically advance to face either Jasperse or Moss in November.