Two candidates will face each other in a runoff after Tuesday's primary to choose the Republican candidate for the Alabama House District 40 seat. K.L. Brown of Jacksonville will face Jay Dill of Jacksonville on Feb. 16.

Brown had the most votes with 1,074, or 46.47 percent of the vote while Dill had 453 votes, or 19.6 percent of the vote. There were 2,311 votes cast.

A candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Early on as the results came in it looked like Brown would clear the 50 percent hurdle, but later returns showed gains for Dill.

Brown said he was surprised that he received such a large percent of the vote.

"I'm really humbled by the whole thing," Brown said. "But I worked hard and we had a lot of people who were working hard for us. I'm very, very pleased."

Dill said he was excited to be part of the runoff.

"I'm looking forward to the runoff," Dill said. "I'm delighted about the people who turned out despite the weather and I'd like to congratulate all the candidates."

The candidate who wins the runoff will face off in the March 30 general election against Ricky Whaley, the sole Democrat running for the seat and Carol Hagan, who is qualified as an independent.

The seat was vacated when Rep. Lea Fite died in October.

Whoever wins the general election will hold the seat until Fite's term expires in November.

Of the other three Republican candidates, Debra Jones of White Plains had the third highest amount of votes with 422, or 18.26 percent of the vote. She needed just 31 votes to be part of the runoff.

"I'm very disappointed," Jones said. "But I'm very pleased with the campaign. I made new, lasting friends and have no regrets whatsoever."

Jones said she was not sure if she would run for the seat again in November.

"I will have to give it some thought," she said.

Bill Lester of Jacksonville came in fourth with 236 votes, or 10.21 percent of the vote.

"I certainly wish I was able to do better, but we worked as hard as we could," Lester said. "I'm grateful for everyone who worked on the campaign."

Lester said he would not make a decision about running again until he discussed the matter with his family.

"But right now, I want to get behind K.L. and Jay," Lester said. "Certainly my goal now would be to get one of those two elected."

Tom Shelton of Jacksonville had the least amount of votes with 126, or 5.45 percent of the vote.

"I guess the message to me was to stay home," Shelton said with a laugh. "But I do appreciate my voters and for the public supporting the election."

Shelton said there was little chance he would run again in November.

"I don't think so … I got a clear message from the voters," he said.

Calhoun County Probate Judge Alice Martin said voter turnout for the primary was slightly better than expected.

"It's a low turnout, but not disappointing, what with the weather," Martin said.