Loudermilk wins GOP runoff to succeed Rep. Gingrey

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) Barry Loudermilk has been chosen by Republican voters to take GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey's seat in Congress. <br /> <br /> Loudermilk, a state senator from Cassville, defeated former congressman Bob Barr in a GOP runoff Tuesday for Gingrey's House seat in the 11th District, which covers part of Atlanta's northern suburbs. <br /> <br /> No Democrats ran for the seat, essentially giving Loudermilk a free pass to Washington in the fall. <br /> <br /> Barr, who helped lead the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, was denied a congressional comeback more than a decade after he became a casualty of a redistricting that forced him into a losing primary race against a fellow GOP incumbent, then-Rep. John Linder. He ran for president as a Libertarian in 2008. <br /> <br /> Loudermilk ran for Congress after a decade in the state Legislature.