Dave Boucher

dboucher@tennessean.com

House Speaker Beth Harwell withstood a late onslaught criticizing her leadership, including her handling of the Jeremy Durham expulsion, to retain her Nashville House seat Tuesday.

With more than half of precincts reporting as of 9:19 p.m., Harwell led Democratic opponent Chris Moth handily by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin, according to the Davidson County Election Commission.

"It's an honor to serve the 56th District and I'm humbled by the support. I look forward to taking on the issues that face Tennessee in the legislature," Harwell said in a statement through a spokesman.

Harwell, R-Nashville, was always a favorite heading into this election, having beaten Moth by 26 percentage points two years ago. But Democrats thought they might have had a chance to oust the first female speaker of the House in Tennessee history, pointing to Harwell's extensive campaigning this year as a sign the race was tighter than expected.

The Durham ouster did put Harwell in the crosshairs of both Democrats and members of the GOP. Her opponents said she did too little to protect women at the statehouse, while some Republicans called her orchestration of the attorney general investigation into Durham an unconstitutional witch hunt. But Harwell touted her role in Durham's expulsion, running television ads in the days preceding Election Day pointing to her role in investigating the Franklin Republican and ultimately helping to remove him.

Election results:

The fact Harwell used TV ads at all is a stark contrast to her approach during the 2014 campaign cycle. She only spent $11,500 on campaign mailers in October 2014 en route to her throttling of Moth. This October, Harwell poured in more than $168,000 toward television and online advertising, compared to more than $100,000 spent by the Moth campaign on advertising during the same month.

Moth left a Democratic Party event Tuesday evening without commenting.

The victory sets up another election for Harwell in less than two weeks: she'll vie to keep the speakership during a Nov. 17 caucus nominating election. Rep. Jimmy Matlock has already announced he'll run, telling The Tennessean earlier this year he believed he was up in the race.

A speakership re-election coupled with the easy defeat of Moth could be enough to move Harwell back into the conversation of possible gubernatorial candidates for 2018. The GOP primary for the race is expected to be crowded, but Harwell — who hasn't said whether she's interested in running — would enter with more than $1 million in campaign and political action committee funds already in the bank.

Reporter Adam Tamburin contributed to this story.

Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.

Election Day 2016