By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

It was a strong night for incumbent Jim Carns in the GOP primary election for the position of advancing to the House District 48 General Election in the fall.

Carns squared off against William Wentowski in the primary election, and in the 18 precincts counted towards the vote, Carns picked up 4,552 (76.56 percent) of the votes, while Wentowski received 1,394 (23.44 percent) of the votes.

“It feels great,” Carns said after the win. “I appreciate the victory and my constitutes for having faith in me to continue handling this position.”

The general election will take place on Tuesday, November 6, and the position in House District 48 will be opposed by Democratic candidate Alli Summerford.

“I expect a more exuberant schedule of political activity in the fall,” Carns said. “Democrats are trying to make a strong comeback this fall and it’s going to be a battle.”

Carns is, however, looking forward to the chance of continuing in a position he has held since 2011 after a special election was set for Nov. 29, 2011.

Since no Democrats elected to run in that race, Carns was able to immediately take office on Aug. 30 of that year after winning the Republican primary by defeating Craig Sanderson.

Now with several years of experience, he hopes to continue to build off of his gained knowledge.

“I want everybody to know that I’m going to continue to work very hard for each and every individual I work for in the district as well as all of the educational plans and economic aspects of the district,” he said.

District 48 covers the north part of Shelby County from Brook Highland slightly across 119 into the Greystone/Hoover area and cuts off at U.S. 280.

The majority of the district, however, lies in Jefferson County covering cities such as Birmingham, Homewood, Irondale, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills.

Covering both of those areas is something Carns is familiar with having represented South Jefferson and North Shelby counties in some form since 1990.

“I’m very happy to be a part of the Shelby County delegation,” Carns said. “The district used to cover more of Shelby County, but it’s been great to see their growth over the years. It’s gone from a rural county to one of most booming counties in state.”

As for what to expect, Carns sees a bright future ahead for the state as a whole, but specifically his district should he be re-elected.

“We are going to continue what we are on,” he said. “I’ve seen good and bad paths, and we are on a good path in our area for now.  I’ve seen a lot of really good things happen. The state has gone through a lot of changes and is going through tremendous economic growth.”

For the time being, Carns was excited to win the primary election and ended his exhausting day by enjoying a small relaxing get together with his closest supporters to celebrate.

As for Wentowski, he couldn’t have been any more upbeat and supportive after running a strong campaign himself, but also still hopes to see some improvement.

“I would like to thank my friends, family, supporters and a very special thank you to all the people who got out and voted at the polls today,” he said. “Congratulations to Mr. Carns on his victory. I look forward to the next campaign, because I know Alabama can be better and I intend to run until it is.”