Donna Farris Hardy squeaked by Doug Whittington Tuesday to take the Republican nomination to be Warren County chancery clerk.

Hardy, 56, a retired health care administrator, won 51.01 percent of the 3,745 votes cast in the race to Whittington’s 48.99 percent. Absentee and affidavit ballots tallied by the Warren County Republican Executive Committee had Whittington ahead on those, 77 to 61, not enough to close the gap in the poll vote.

Hardy faces City Clerk Walter Osborne, a Democrat, and independents Alecia Ashley and Gene Thompson in the Nov. 8 general election.

“I’m not going to change how I’ve been running,” Hardy said when the last precinct’s poll vote totals were read just after 11 p.m. “It’s not to tell people what I’m going to do, but what I’ve already done.”

Reached at home, Whittington, 38, chief accountant for the City of Vicksburg, said he accepted the results and compiling the city’s budget Thursday night was his top priority.

“Miss Hardy ran a tough race,” he said. “I thank all the people who came out and supported me.”