Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, now Georgia's senior senator in Washington, appeared Tuesday to be headed for a November general election challenge from Democrat Jim Barksdale, who emerged late Tuesday from a three-candidate Democratic primary contest to earn the right to challenge Isakson for the Senate seat.

In local balloting, Isakson got 82 percent of the Republican vote in Athens-Clarke County, while Jim Barksdale claimed the majority of Democratic ballots cast locally, with 63.6 percent of ballots cast.

And, in the lone congressional race affecting Athens-Clarke County, incumbent 9th District Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins handily won re-election to his seat, turning back challenges from four GOP contenders who included former congressman Dr. Paul Broun, who placed a distant second in Tuesday balloting. Broun earned 18,761 votes in the contest, for 22 percent of the vote.

In his winning effort, Collins got 61.3 percent of the vote, claiming 52,943 of the 84,939 ballots cast.

Among the other candidates in the Republican race for the 9th District, which extends across northeastern Georgia through Gainesville to the state line, and includes just a northern corner of Athens-Clarke County, retired military officer Bernie Fontaine of Suches got 2,338 votes, or 2.75 percent of the total, while retiree Mike Scupin of Cumming got 2,854 votes, or 3.36 percent, and Roger Fitzpatrick, a retired educator living in Cleveland, claimed 8,942 ballots, or 10.5 percent of the total votes cast.

Voters in the small swath of northern Athens-Clarke County who cast ballots in the 9th District race gave the nod to Collins, handing him 118 votes, or nearly 60 percent of the total cast locally in the race, while Broun got nearly 31 percent of the local vote, or 62 ballots.

In the two state legislative races on local ballots Tuesday, Athens attorney Bill Cowsert was re-elected to the District 46 seat in the state Senate, claiming 11,767 of the 15,435 votes in the contest for 76.2 percent of the ballots in the race.

Cowsert turned back a challenge from Republican Patricia Daugherty of Bishop, president of Conservative Republican Women of Northeast Georgia, who took 3,668 votes, for 23.7 percent of the total.

The 46th District includes part of Athens-Clarke County, all of Oconee County, and part of Walton County.

The two squared off recently at a candidate forum in Oconee County, where Daugherty charged that Republicans in the state legislature were moving away from conservative principles. She pointed to legislation creating a $5 nightly fee on hotel rooms to help fund the state's transportation needs as being among the "many things that don't seem like they should be happening" in a Republican-dominated legislature.

Cowsert moved at the forum to solidify his conservative bona fides, saying that he and other legislators would not give up on the so-called "religious freedom" bill vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal. The legislation would have allowed faith-based organizations to deny services to people who violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, and required that the state show a compelling interest before interfering with anyone's religious practice.

In other local balloting Tuesday, incumbent Republican state Sen. Frank Ginn of Danielsville retained the District 47 seat in the state Senate, earning 10,189 of the 12,644 votes cast, taking 80.5 percent of ballots. Ginn turned back a GOP challenge from political newcomer Tyler Hollifield, a military veteran and student at the University of North Georgia.

Ginn has represented the 47th District, which comprises Madison County and parts of Jackson County and Athens-Clarke County, since 2010. Ginn recently was among the sponsors of legislation setting up a legislative study committee to look at strategies for ensuring that state residents, particularly in its rural areas, have fast and reliable broadband access to the internet.

Hollifield, in recent comments to the Athens Banner-Herald, said, "My faith, my family, and my community are the most important facets of my life, and I want to protect all three."

In other state races Tuesday, Republican Tim Echols of Bogart retained his seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission representing a wide area of eastern and central Georgia. Echols, who faced two Republican challengers - Michelle Miller of Warner Robins and Kellie Pollard Austin of Lawrenceville - got 345,121 of the 500,828 ballots cast in the race, while Miller earned 90,282 votes and Austin claimed 65,425 votes.