Republican State’s Attorney candidate Clay Campbell appeared exhausted but remained positive as he told his supporters he made a call to Democratic incumbent Ron Matekaitis to wish him luck during his next term in office.

“I’m not at all cynical; we put on a fight and someone had to lose,” Campbell said. “Tonight, it was me. The people spoke and I respect their decision.”

During the phone call, Campbell said Matekaitis was gracious.

“He was a gentleman about it,” Campbell said. “He said campaigning was tough business.”

Early in the night, the campaign appeared to be within Campbell’s reach. With 11 of 81 precincts reporting, Matekaitis held less than a 200 vote lead.

But at the end of the night, Matekaitis came out on top with 59.7 percent of the votes with 88.9 percent of precincts reporting.

However, Matekaitis’ lead continued to grow as the night went on and updates to supporters became less frequent. The crowd of over 40 supporters slowly started to leave.

While Campbell was accepting of defeat, his wife was more outspoken about the loss.

“Corruption won tonight,” Kelsey Campbell said. “It’s a loss to the people in the county. There’s a kid dead and neither Ron or anyone in the administration will accept responsibility for it.”

Kelsey was referring to accusations her husband made against Matekaitis during the campaign about his possible role in preventing the death of a 20-year-old man killed in a car accident on Nov. 16, 2003. The driver was driving under the influence for the second time in two years, but his license was never revoked because of a state-level mistake, according to Campbell.

“Politics is a rough business and not for the faint of heart,” Campbell said. “I’ve felt positive throughout the campaign.”

Campbell said it was too soon to say if he would try to run for office again.

“I’m not a big fan of people running unopposed,” Campbell said. “But I never saw myself as a career politician.”

Campbell, who, with his wife, has a 6-year-old daughter, Lisa, and two 15-month old twins, Carson and Jessie, said he was looking forward to returning to civilian life and spending more time with his family.

“I want to thank my kids for sacrificing time with their father,” Campbell said. “This was a difficult process and an enormous sacrifice on the part of my family, too. I think it’s important we teach our children that it’s OK to lose.”

Although Clay said he was disappointed in the loss, he was proud of his campaign.

“Anyone who gave five minutes to my campaign, you have my heart,” Campbell said. “We did achieve something here. This was a conduit to learn about democracy.”