Voters in the 118th Illinois House district are sending a new representative to Springfield.
Republican Patrick Windhorst defeated democrat Natalie Phelps-Finnie in the mid-term election winning 58-percent of the vote.
Windhorst says he was pleasantly surprised by his margin of victory.
"I think a lot of that had to do with the overall republican wave in southern Illinois that I was able to be a part of. Those numbers are a tribute to my supporters and volunteers, family, the people who got out and supported me in the campaign and worked hard."
Windhorst's victory adds to the GOP's stronghold on the area's state House seats, along with Terri Bryant in the 115th and Dave Severin in the 117th district.
Windhorst says with democrats now controlling the governor's office and both chambers of the General Assembly, he'll have to work in a bi-partisan manner to get things done.
"Hopefully persuade people to go along with what I'm proposing. But, at the same time, as I'm looking to work across the aisle, I'll hold fast to my principles and make sure that we're standing up for what the people of southern Illinois believe in."
Windhorst says the major issue for him is making Illinois a better place to live to stop the state's loss in population.
His priorities between now and the start of the new General Assembly session in January will involve concluding his work as the Massac County State's Attorney and educating himself on more legislative issues.