Republican J. Gregory

Canfield is the new House District 48 State Representative serving both Shelby and Jefferson counties.

Canfield defeated Della Fancher in the Republican primary runoff election on July 18 by 2,998 votes to 1,379 votes statewide for 68 percent.

He led in Shelby County with 946 votes to 412 votes for 70 percent.

Canfield replaces former State Rep. Jim Carns, who won election to the Jefferson County Commission. He faces no opposition in the general election.

Upon learning he had unofficially carried Shelby County, Canfield said, &8220;Well, I really have felt and feel that this campaign was really turned on what we campaigned on and that is solid conservative Republican values. I&8217;ve heard a lot of arguments in some of the broadcast media that those kinds of values don&8217;t carry with the voters anymore and this proves that theory wrong.&8221;

On being declared the unofficial winner, he said, &8220;I couldn&8217;t have done this without having broad support.&8221;

He said, &8220;I&8217;m very excited about the opportunity to represent the people of District 48 and the state of Alabama both in Shelby and Jefferson counties.&8221;

&8220;I think that in the state of Alabama that we&8217;ve always got to be on guard that we are making certain of being good guardians of our tax dollars that are going into Montgomer,&8221; he said.

&8220;I think education is very important in District 48, and I plan to be a strong guardian of our individual school systems to protect them from unfunded mandates.&8221;

&8220;I think we&8217;ve got some transportation issues specifically on Highway 280 that we have got to address,&8221; he said.

Fancher said, &8220;First I want to say thank you to the many people who have supported me on many different levels. I think we ran a very good campaign. We talked about issues that have not been addressed, things that the voting public need to think about, like three layers down in PAC transfers you find gambling money. It is trackable.&8221;

She said, &8220;We really want the best interest for District 48. We hope Mr. Canfield will have the best interest in mind for the district.&8221;

Reporter staff writer Meredith Donnelly contributed to this story