For most of the evening, the race teetered back and forth.

Sykes won Cleveland County by 1,814 votes — 4,404 to 2,590 votes after some boxes were recounted.

He also took McClain County by 593 votes, by a 1,636 to 1,043 tally.

Several boxes had to be recounted in Grady County. The preliminary tally with 14 of 15 precincts counted at 11:30 p.m. was 1,995 for Sykes to 1,864 votes for Lawler.

Lawler won her home Stephens County by 2,122 votes.

“I knew it would be close because of the makeup of my district,” Lawler said earlier Tuesday afternoon.

• House District 45

Smiling amid the cheers of “Wallace! Wallace!” former state Rep. Collins leveraged $50,000 and a concentrated grass roots effort to defeat incumbent Republican Balkman in the race for House District 45.

With the win, Collins reclaims the House seat he lost four years ago.

“This is a great night,” he said. “It proves that the voters wanted change.”

Collins defeated Balkman 5,359 votes to 5,270 votes, an 89-vote margin.

Collins, surrounded by his family and a standing-room-only crowd at the Democrat’s election night watch party, said he was grateful for everyone who helped in the race.

“I want to thank each and every one of you,” an emotional Collins said. “Each of you helped. If anyone had hiccuped, we might not be here. It was a great effort.”

Though outspent by more than $200,000 in a race that was considered a must-win for both parties, Collins said voters grew tired of Balkman’s style.

“We took on a guy who had a ton of money and Chesapeake Energy behind him,” Collins said. “And we beat him.”