Dave Hayden beat two competitors Tuesday and will soon take the seat as Chilton County’s new superintendent of education.

For months, Jason Griffin, Hayden and Louise Pitts have been campaigning to win votes, but as the final numbers came in, Hayden proved to be the big winner.

“I’m very pleased and would like to thank all my voters for their support,” said Hayden. “I’m overwhelmed. I feel like I have a lot to live up to, and I will work to live up to it.”

Hayden won 59.74 percent of the votes, Griffin won 26.99 percent and Pitts won 13.7 percent.

The race was unique in that it had three candidates, including Independent Pitts.

“I want to thank those people who came out and voted for me,” said Pitts. “It was a nice clean race between the three of us. Congratulations to Dave for his win and to Griffin for a job well done. I love my job, and I am still an advocate for education and devoted to the children of Chilton County.”

Democrat Griffin wished to thank his supporters as well.

“Thank you to the people that voted for me; I appreciate their support,” said Griffin. We ran a clean race and congrats to Hayden for winning superintendent.”

Hayden’s first priority when he gets into office is to make sure all schools are safe, he said.