MACON, Ga. (ABP) -- Cecil Staton, president of Smyth & Helwys Publishing in Macon, Ga., was elected Nov. 2 to fill an open seat in the Georgia state Senate. Staton, a Republican, garnered 61 percent of the votes in the District 18 race against Democratic challenger Ben Taylor, an associate minister at the First Baptist Church of Macon.

Both candidates are ordained Baptist ministers and graduates of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Smyth & Helwys is a 13-year-old, for-profit enterprise that produces Sunday school curriculum and other church resources.

Staton launched a second publishing house last year that released U.S. Sen. Zell Miller's best-selling critique of the Democratic Party titled A National Party No More.

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