Avila, 57, of North Raleigh beat Eddins, 52, of Raleigh in a race which both candidates were bloodied by negative ads. With 29 of 30 precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Avila with 66 percent of the vote, while Eddins trailed with 34 percent.

Avila was buoyed by a series of negative ads the connected Eddins, a 12-year House veteran, to embattled state House Speaker Jim Black, a Democrat. The founder of the John Locke Foundation, the think tank that employs Avila, helped finance the ads.

Avila won the seat outright on Tuesday because no Democrat is running for the seat in House District 40, which represents a large swath of northern Wake County, including parts of North Raleigh, Rolesville and Wake Forest.