Tommy Glasscock and Dave Hayden will enter a runoff for the Republican primary for Chilton County superintendent of education.

Glasscock received 44 percent of the vote with 3,326 total votes while Hayden finished at 37 percent with 2,846.

The two will compete for the July 13 vote to decide who represents the Republican party in a three-way race with Democrat Jason Griffin and independent Louise Pitts in the general election in November.

Glasscock’s camp watched the results in a rented space on Second Avenue in downtown Clanton. Several supporters gathered to celebrate with Glasscock, as they all prepared to hit the ground running for more campaigning today.

“We feel really good,” Glasscock said. “We’ll be out hitting it hard and heavy [Wednesday]. We still feel like we’re the person for the job. Our main thing is getting people to vote and getting our message out. We want to get the community involved in education. We know what it takes to educate our kids. If you get the community and businesses involved, that’s the only way you have a strong educational system.”

Hayden gathered at his home in Clanton for some barbecue and quality time with his family and supporters Tuesday evening. He insists he’s also prepared for the continuing race and offered his best wishes to his opponent.

“We appreciate everyone’s support and everyone voting,” Hayden said. “We’ve got six more weeks of work. Congratulations to Mr. Glasscock for his hard work. We’d like to see everyone turn out again.”

Larry Raines finished third in the voting at 19 percent with 1,470. While disappointed with the result, he said it didn’t catch him totally off guard.

“It’s kind of not surprising,” Raines said. “I was expecting to be down some. I ran on what I thought would offer the county some qualifications that would benefit the whole county. I’m sure not living in the county was a big detriment that we just couldn’t overcome.”

Democratic candidate Jason Griffin, who is running unopposed, was pleased to see the three Republican competitors putting forth a cordial campaign altogether. For now, he will patiently await the result to know the third party in the general election.

“I thank all three gentlemen for running a clean race,” Griffin said. “Congrats to the two in the runoff, both of whom are personal friends. I look forward to a good, clean campaign the rest of the summer and into the fall with either of those gentlemen and with [Louise] Pitts.”

Pitts, the current Jemison Elementary School principal, submitted a petition with 582 signatures to the Chilton County Probate Office on Tuesday to run as an independent candidate.