LANSING - In Tuesday’s special primary, state Rep. Valde Garcia, a St. Johns Republican, captured the GOP nomination for the 26th District Senate seat.

With all 137 precincts reporting, Garcia defeated fellow GOP Senate candidates, capturing 12,815 votes. State Reps. Larry Julian, of Lennon, and Judith Scranton, of Brighton, followed with 6,197 votes and 4,033 votes respectively.

“Other than a low voter turnout, it’s going well,” Garcia said about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. “The people that are supporting us are coming out strong.”

Garcia will square off against his Democrat opponent in a March 20 special election.

Rosemary Reed, of Perry, earned the Democratic nomination with 1,074 votes.

He beat out Rosemary Reed, of Perry, and Thomas Ford, of Owosso.

“We’ve only got a few precincts in, but so far so good,” Burns said Tuesday night a few hours after the polls closed.“I’m very optimistic.”

The winner in the general election will fill a vacancy left by Mike Rogers, the Brighton Republican who was elected to the U.S. House in November.

Garcia, a second-term lawmaker, served on Rogers’ Senate staff. He is, by political analysts, considered the front-runner to fill the predominately GOP seat.

The district includes portions of Livingston, Clinton and Shiawassee counties.

Voters who made their way to the polls to vote Tuesday found none of the long lines they experienced at times in November.

And they had much fewer complaints than when they cast ballots more than three months ago.

The predicted dismal turnout at the polls came true, leaving some supporters contemplating why they were one of only a few who wanted to vote.

“It was light, very light,” said DeWitt resident Scott Hummel, a Garcia supporter, of the situation at the voting booths. “I was one of only two people voting. I think it’s not on people’s minds to vote.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.