John Thomas easily beat challenger Lindsey Sanford to keep his Panola County Board of Supervisors seat, and become the first Republican elected in the county since Reconstruction.

Unofficially, Thomas won 1,515 to 1,030 in ballots cast at the polls today. Those do not include provisional votes, but will not change the winner.

By precinct the results are:

Cliff Finch – Thomas 310 , Sanford 78

Tocowa – Thomas 475 , Sanford 88

Courtland – Thomas 290,  Sanford 551

Crowder – Thomas 52, Sanford 70

Pope – Thomas 388, Sanford 243

Thomas originally qualified as an Independent, but changed his paperwork to Republican just minutes before the end of the day on the last day to qualify.

Thomas had run as a Democrat in the past three county elections, but chose to change parties as the national political climate changed and an increasing number of local voters said they would no longer cast a ballot for any Democratic candidate.