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District 5 in Stanly County will have a new representative on the county commission after the results of Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Billy Mills, who teachers engineering part-time at Gray Stone Day after a long career teaching in Rowan County, defeated incumbent Peter Asciutto, an Anson County teacher and former businessman, for the party’s nomination.

Mills received 7,746 votes (73.8%), the most of any Republican candidate in a race for a local office. Asciutto received 2,752 votes (26.2%).

In an email to The Stanly News & Press, Mills thanked his campaign staff for “sacrificing precious time with their children (and) families” for more than three months.

He also expressed his gratitude to Stanly residents, saying he and his staff “were humbled by the margin of victory. But I know this was not because of me. There is something much larger at work.”

Mills said the work is just beginning. “As parents, grandparents and guardians we will absolutely be held accountable for the community and the environment which our children grow-up and raise their own families.”

He said Stanly County and the United States are “in the midst of a very serious battle. Each person must stand up and fight for the morals, principles and God-fearing values from which this nation was built.”

Asciutto said he was OK with the outcome.

“What I love about this country is people get to vote, and the results are what they are,” he said. “I lost by 5,000 votes, and I’m OK with it. If I had lost by 50 votes, I would be beating myself up figuring out where to get 50 votes.”

The commissioner said there was “no way I could have done anything different to make up for the votes. I wish Billy good luck.”

Mills will run unopposed in the November general election.