House Democratic Minority Leader Ward Armstrong has lost the seat he's held for nearly 20 years.

In a race symbolically important to the Republicans, Del. Charles Poindexter won 53 percent of the vote over Armstrong, whom
the GOP targeted both in redistricting and in heavy financial support for Poindexter.

Armstrong had represented the 10th House District since 1992,
but Republicans moved it 200 miles to the north, forcing the Henry
County Democrat to take on Poindexter in a Republican-friendly 9th
District.

Armstrong had been minority leader since 2007. He took heat from
some Democrats because he tried to distance himself from President Obama in a district that is home to the state's highest
unemployment rates.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)