Floyd County voters, for the most part, returned to status quo Tuesday, giving Republicans wide support and strengthening the GOP stranglehold on the Board of Supervisors.

Republican Casey Clinger easily defeated former Town Manager Mike Maslaney, a Democrat running as an independent, collecting 56.56 percent of the vote to win the open seat on the Floyd County Board of Supervisors, replacing retiring Democrat-turned-Republican Jerry W. Boothe.  Boothe endorsed Clinger and the win gives the GOP a solid 4-1 majority on the county board.

Some saw the race as a referendum on old vs. new: Clinger, the local boy and businessman, against Maslaney, the newcomer heavily involved in the downtown rehab project. Others felt Maslaney would be hurt by his seat on the county Economic Development Authority, currently involved in a questionable deal to sell 51.5 acres in the county' Commerce Park to a company with a dubious track record.

Whatever the reason, county voters returned to their GOP roots Tuesday, giving the three Republicans running for statewide office 65 percent of the vote and delegate Charles Poindexter 74 percent.

In the school board race, however, voters dumped incumbent Howard Cundiff -- replacing him with Linda King, who rang up 62.65 percent of the vote in a comfortable win.

In the town council race, appointed councilman Bruce Turner, Floyd County's Chief Deputy in the Sheriff's Department, led voting with 102 votes (39.08 percent), followed by Karen Agnew Bingham (71 votes: 27.20 percent), Ross G. Miller (50 votes: 19.15 percent) and Dennis Wagner (37 votes: 14.17 percent).  Will Griffin, running unopposed for mayor, won with only 1 dissenting write-in vote.

Statewide, Republicans padded their majority in the House of Delegates, picking up at least four seats, and newly-elected governor Bob McDonnell delivered the final blow to Democrats by capturing the Northern Virginia counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William.  Independent voters who helped put Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in the governor's office in the last two elections, went to McDonnell this time around. Democrats weren't helped by the the incredibly inept campaign of Bath County Senator Creigh Deeds in his bid for the state's top job.