Floyd Attorney Stephanie Murray Shortt easily won the Commonwealth's Attorney race Tuesday, taking 65 percent of the vote and carrying all five districts in the county.

Shortt beat Eric Branscom, who moved to the county at the behest of Republican bosses to replace Gordon Hannett, by more than 1,199 votes -- 2,579 to 1,380.

In Burk's Fork Supervisory District, Democrat Bill Gardner beat James K. "Jolly" Webb -- 510 to 372 -- while Republican Virgel Allen edged Democrat Cynthia Babb 471 to 411 in Little River.

In State races, Democrats Eric Ferguson and Roscoe Reynolds led the Delegate and State Senate ballots. Although Ferguson lost the race from votes in other counties, he and Democrat Jerry Boothe, running as an independent, combined to win more than 60 percent of the Floyd County vote.,

The outcome represents a clear shift in voting patterns for Floyd County, where Republicans usually carry the day. With a Democrat winning the Supervisor seat in normally GOP Burks Fork district and Independent Shortt handily defeating the hand-picked Republican candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney the county is no longer an automatic safe haven for the party of the elephant.