Will Ainsworth has narrowly won the Republican nomination runoff race for Lieutenant Governor against Twinkle Cavanaugh. Ainsworth will now face Democratic minister Will Boyd in the November general election.

Ainsworth garnered 166,880 votes, or 51.66 percent of the statewide vote, narrowly beating Cavanaugh’s 156,171 votes, or 48.34 percent. These numbers constitute 94 percent of all reporting precincts and were up-to-date at the press deadline.

Cavanaugh did carry Chambers County, garnering 56.44 percent of the vote, or 1,401 votes in the county, against Ainsworth’s 43.56 percent, or 1,082 votes.

Alabama has been without a lieutenant governor for more than a year.

Cavanaugh, an Alabama Public Service Commission president, will face Democratic nominee Boyd, who lost the U.S. Senate primary against Doug Jones in the special election last year.

The office of lieutenant governor, which oversees the state Senate, has been vacant since April 2017, when Kay Ivey succeeded Robert Bentley as governor following his resignation and guilty plea amid a sex-tinged scandal.

Ethics is a top issue in the race, as the Legislature looks to review Alabama’s ethics law next year. The winner of this general election race will play a large role in the future conversations regarding ethics.