Despite a vigorous challenge from Republicans hoping to pick up an open seat deep in the heart of Dixie, Democrats have hung onto the Huntsville-based district of retiring Rep. Bud Cramer (D).

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press has called the race for state Sen. Parker Griffith (D), who took 52 percent to 48 percent for commercial insurance broker Wayne Parker (R).

This campaign turned particularly nasty in the last two months of the contest, especially when national Republican officials began releasing documents that called into question Griffith’s medical credentials from his time working at Huntsville Hospital. But Griffith beat back those attacks with help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent more than $1 million to keep the seat in the Democratic column.