Republican incumbents in state house districts 12, 13 and 14 retained their seats in the state legislature Tuesday night as results were announced Wednesday morning by the state Division of Elections on its website.

Rep. Lora Reinbold, R – District 14, took 59 percent of the vote in what was the area’s closest race against independent candidate Joe Hackenmueller who earned the vote of 41 percent of the voter turnout.

District 14 voting in the general election was 52 percent of its registered voters – a number significantly higher than the paltry 17.3 percent of registered Republicans that voted in the August primary when Reinbold defeated fellow Republican challenger Crystal Kennedy.

There were 35 write-in votes in District 14.

Dan Saddler, R – District 13 easily retained his long-time held seat in the state legislature. He was unopposed in the general election. That didn’t stop 3,853 registered voters from casting their vote for Saddler. He received 94.5 percent of the vote.

Nearly 40 percent of registered voters in District 13 came out to vote Tuesday as compared to ten percent of registered Republicans in August when Saddler defeated fellow Republican challenger Myranda Walso.

There were 223 write-in votes in District 13.

Cathy Tilton, R – District 12 handily beat out two challengers – Karen Perry from the Alaska Constitution Party and Gretchen Wehmhoff from the Democratic Party.

With a little more than 50 percent of District 12’s registered voters casting ballots Tuesday night, Tilton earned 4,494 votes or approximately 66 percent of the vote.

Wehmhoff had 1,551 voters check off her name for nearly 23 percent of the vote.

Perry took 11 percent of the vote with 754 opting for her candidacy.

There were 21 write-in votes in District 12.

Replacing Senator Bill Stoltze

Shelley Hughes, currently the Republican representative for House District 11 of Greater Palmer, moves over to the Senate side of the state legislature in January as she convincingly defeated Tim Hale, independent candidate, in the battle to represent state Senate District F now that Sen. Bill Stoltze is retiring from more than three decades of public service.

Hughes took 10,025 votes or 72 percent of the vote to Hale’s 3,805 votes equaling 27 percent of the vote in a district that saw 51 percent of its registered voters turn out for the general election.

There were 72 write-in votes in District F.