With all precincts reporting, Republican John Patton won with 2,504 votes to 508 for his Libertarian candidate Elmer Kuball in Tuesday night's House District 29 race.

"I'm just humbled by this vote. I hope that I can live up to those expectations," Patton said. "I'm looking forward to it, I really am. I just get all ginned up, it charges my batteries what we're talking about; positive changes for the future."

Republicans also took a commanding lead in Campbell County.

In House District 31, incumbent Rep. Tom Lubnau took 3,054 votes to challenger Democrat Billy Montgomery's 708 votes, according to the Campbell County elections office. That was from 12,159 votes counted and more than 4,000 absentee ballots not counted.

In House District 32, incumbent Tim Hallinan, R-Gillette, led with 2,175 votes to his challenger Democrat Duffy Jenniges who had 493 votes. Again, that was with 12,159 votes counted and more than 4,000 absentee ballots not counted.

This was Jenniges' sixth bid for the House District 32 seat in Campbell County. He said he drew distinct differences between him and his opponent on health care, but admitted he had a big challenge ahead given the dominance of Republicans in the district.

"All I have to do is convince about 500 Republicans to vote the other way," Jenniges had told the Star-Tribune in September.

Voter turnout was heavy in Campbell County, with lines snaking outside of the polling area at Cam-plex when polls opened, and with lines continuing in the last hour of voting. Campbell County Elections Clerk Cindy Edwards said the polls would likely stay open late so that those who were in line by 7 p.m. get to vote.

However, tallying the vote should go relatively quickly once the votes are in. Edwards said the county's new optical scanners have been quick and reliable.

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Absentee voting is up 40 percent from Campbell County's highest year in 2004. Edwards said early in the evening that 4,323 ballots were mailed, and 4,219 haven't been returned.

In Sheridan County's House District 29, Patton and Kuball vied to replace Republican Jerry Iekel, who did not seek re-election after serving three terms.

Patton ran on 50 years of political experience ranging from the Sheridan city council to director of intergovernmental affairs in the Gerald Ford administration. Patton, 77, spent most of the 1970s in the Wyoming House and Senate.

As a strident Libertarian, Kuball said during his campaign that he has viewed state politics as an outsider for more than three decades.

"The forums I attended, they had canned questions, and I never felt like I had the political savvy to get my points and my opinion across enough," Kuball told the Star-Tribune early Tuesday evening. "There are serious issues; the national debt is very important to people in Wyoming and every other state, but it just gets lip service."

Lubnau said nothing was certain given the large number of new voters in Campbell County.

"I'm just glad there's so much participation by the voters in this election," said Lubnau.

Historically, Campbell County has been very Republican. But it could change from red to pink based on a steady influx of energy workers from out of state.

"I've got 5,000 new people in my district now (since 2004)," said Lubnau. "So going door-to-door was such a neat experience. Seeing people pick up everything and move to Wyoming for their future - it's just such a neat thing that we offer an opportunity to folks who can find a new and better place to live in Wyoming."

Contact reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com