Republican Mike Dugan said he was “happy” with his victory in last week’s runoff election for the Republican nomination for a West Georgia legislative seat but “it’s not like a popularity contest.”

“It’s an indication that the people expect you to perform,” he said following his Dec. 4 defeat of Bill Hembree in a special GOP primary for the vacant Georgia Senate District 30 seat.

“At the end of the day it’s a couple of guys who’ve been interviewing for a job,” he said. “The voters are the employers and they said, ‘OK, we think this guy is the one who’s the most capable of doing what it is we want done.’

“I felt proud and I felt humbled, and we have another race to go.”

Dugan received 3,606 votes to Hembree’s 2,857.

The Carrollton construction company official will now face Libertarian candidate James Camp of Temple Jan. 8 in a special general election for the post. The Legislature is scheduled to begin its 2013 session Jan. 14.

Dugan received 56 percent of the vote to defeat Hembree, a Winston resident and eight-term Georgia House member, who received 44 percent of the vote.

The district includes southern Paulding and western Douglas counties and most of Carroll County.

Hembree, a Douglasville insurance agent, won all 10 of the precincts in Douglas and Paulding counties, but could not overcome Dugan’s advantage in Carroll County. Dugan received 75 percent of the vote in Carroll and won 25 of the county’s 26 precincts.

Hembree was the top vote-getter out of four candidates for the Republican nomination Nov. 6 but did not get the majority needed to avoid a runoff.

The seat became vacant when Bill Hamrick of Carrollton resigned after being appointed to a Superior Court judgeship.