Bradley Byrne easily won election to Congress Tuesday night, filling the rest of Jo Bonner’s term.

The Republican from Baldwin County beat Democrat Burton LeFlore handily, leading with more than 62 percent of the vote at press time in the 1st District race.

He will be sworn in early next month.

Byrne won Escambia County in a landslide with just shy of 75 percent of the vote.

“As a community, we have such a bright future ahead of us — the potential to be an economic leader in our state and throughout the Gulf Coast region, bringing good-paying jobs and a better quality of life to South Alabama,” Byrne told supporters Tuesday night. “But we can’t get there alone. We need a leader who will forge partnerships and promote pro-growth policies that will attract more investment and jobs to our community. That’s exactly what I plan to do as your Congressman.”

Byrne’s victory comes after an election cycle in which he emerged as a leader among a number of Republican candidates for the seat. He was also pitted in the Republican primary runoff against Dean Young, a candidate the national media had dubbed a “Tea Party” candidate, while Byrne was thought of as the traditional conservative.

After the primary, Young said he would not vote for Byrne, but at least one Tea Party group endorsed Byrne.

Bonner resigned his seat in August to take a position with the University of Alabama system.