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Fifth District Judge John Davis easily won re-election to another six-year term Tuesday, shellacking first-time challenger Nye County Senior Deputy District Attorney Marla Zlotek 11,379 to 6,887, a margin of 62.3 percent to 37.7 percent.

The 5th District includes Nye, Esmeralda and Mineral counties. In just Nye County, Davis' margin of victory was slightly smaller, 60 percent to 40 percent.

During the campaign, Davis touched on his many years of experience. He couldn't be reached for comment by press time.

Zlotek was happy both sides ran a clean campaign and respected each other.

She wasn't sure if the emphasis she placed on being a Pahrump resident was important to voters. Department 1 Judge Davis lives in Tonopah and moves some jury trials there involving Pahrump cases; he helps share some of 5th District Department 2 Judge Robert Lane's caseload.

"I really knew I took on a big battle and I gave it my best shot, but I'm really happy, I'm still at my job and I love what I do," Zlotek said. "He has 18 years of good experience -- 18 years as a well-respected and -liked judge, so that's a huge, huge hill to climb."

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett entered the race, but fared badly in the primary after his arrest on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol in California.

Elsewhere in the region, state Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, was unopposed in his bid for relection. But due to term limits it will be his last four years in office.

Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, scored an easy win over Democrat Scotty Babb, of Pahrump, 14,757 votes to 7,977, in his bid for a second term, a margin of 65 percent to 35 percent.

In Nye County, Goedhart captured 62.5 percent of the vote.

During a big victory party at the Pahrump Nugget Casino Tuesday night, Goedhart told the crowd, "I'll go up there, I'll fight hard. We've made a lot of good acquaintances and a lot of good friendships up there in Carson City, and I think that means dividends when we bring our rural issues from Nye County to the state Assembly."

"It's been a hard campaign, we didn't have a well-known opponent, but we still hit all of District 36," Goedhart said.

The district includes all of Nye, Esmeralda, Mineral, Lincoln and part of Churchill counties.

Goedhart captured over three quarters of the vote in Esmeralda (313-95) and Lincoln counties (1,563-449). The race was a little closer in Mineral County, which Goedhart won by a 57 percent to 42 percent margin (1,235-899).

Babb noted he raised only $4,000 on the campaign, as opposed to $62,000 reported by Goedhart's campaign. Babb advocated campaign finance reform, to get more full-time workers like himself in the race for state Assembly.

"This was my first election. If we came up 14 more percentage points we would've been tied. I do appreciate the 8,000 votes that we did get. Overall it was a very good experience," Babb said.

Babb didn't envy Goedhart's job in the upcoming legislative session with the current budget situation.

Goedhart said, "it's going to be a challenging session because first of all we have to deal with the budget realities. Our eyes might be bigger than our pocket books. The old saying goes at the buffet, your eyes are bigger than your stomach."

While he will face a majority Democratic Assembly and now a Democratic majority in the state Senate, Goedhart took solace knowing that in 2010 there will be 11 Democrats who have to leave office due to term limits.