State Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, a Greenville surgeon, on July 9 won the Republican nomination for the Third Congressional District seat held for 25 years by the late Walter B. Jones of Farmville.

Murphy’s victory over Dr. Joan Perry, a pediatrician in Kinston, was 21,444 to 14,472 votes in the 17-county district.

Murphy’s victory margin of 59.71% to 40.29% in the Third District’s 236 precincts was almost exactly mirrored by the vote in Tyrrell County, where he bettered Perry 84 to 58 votes, or 59.15% to 40.85%.

State Board of Elections results show that 11.51% of Republicans and unaffiliated voters cast ballots in the second primary. In Tyrrell County the turnout was 14.36%, or 142 votes out of 989 eligible electors.

The run-off primary was scheduled after the two leading Republican candidates, Murphy and Perry, failed to reach the 30% vote threshold to avoid a second primary. Sixteen Republicans were on the ballot in the first primary on April 30.

GOP standard bearer Murphy will face Democrat Allen Thomas, Libertarian Tim Harris and Constitution Party candidate Greg Holt in the September 10 general election for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Debbie Swain, Tyrrell elections director, earlier estimated that the three-phase special election will cost the county about $46,000, so each vote in Tyrrell on July 9 was about $107.98.

The April 30 turnout in Tyrrell, which included Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Constitutionalists, was 408 voters, bringing the average per-vote cost for both primaries to about $55.76.