UPDATED: Republicans take two Democratic seats in state House; lose one GOP seat

Republicans gained two seats in the Tennessee state House of Representatives in Tuesday’s elections while Democrats took one seat previously held by a Republican. That means the GOP gained a net of one seat, , which would push their Supermajority status to 74 seats, versus 25 Democrats. They began the last legislative session with 73 seats versus 26 Democratic seats.

Republican Michael Curcio easily defeated Democrat Dustin Evans to win House District 69, which had been held for years by retiring Democratic Rep. David Shepard of Dickson.

Republican Paul Sherrell defeated Democratic Rep. Kevin Dunlap of Sparta in House District 41 in a somewhat closer race – 11,671 votes to 10,209 (or about 53-47 percent), according to latest unofficial returns.

Perhaps the surprise of the night was Democrat Dwayne Thompson’s victory over Rep. Steve McManus in House District 96, a suburban Shelby County seat. Unofficial returns show Thompson with 14,105 votes to 13,754 for McManus.

One House race – District 13, where Democrat Gloria Johnson challenged Republican Rep. Eddie Smith of Knoxville – remained a bit uncertain late Tuesday night. Smith held a lead in final unofficial returns — 11,160 votes to 11,006 for Johnson. But Johnson said she wasn’t conceding until provisional ballots were counted.

Otherwise, House incumbents facing challenges won by fairly comfortable margins.

That list notably includes House Speaker Beth Harwell, who defeated Democrat Chris Moth with 21,041 votes to 15,201 for Moth, according to latest returns.

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Note: This updates original Tuesday night post, incorporating the House District 96 results.