Democrat Joe Martin and Republican John Barge will face each other in November in their bids to become Georgia’s top schools official.

Unofficial returns had Martin with 55 percent of the vote with 89 percent of precincts reported. The longtime Atlanta school board member defeated former Georgia State University administrator Beth Farokhi and high school teacher Brian Westlake.

Barge earned about 52 percent of the vote. The Bartow County schools administrator narrowly defeated Republican Irwin County schools official Richard Woods.

The race for the job transformed when former superintendent Kathy Cox resigned in May.

Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Brad Bryant to fill out her term, but he had to abandon his independent bid for the full four-year term when he couldn’t get enough signatures to get his name on the ballot.

How Lowndes County voted

With 24 of 26 precincts reporting, John D. Barge received 46.65 percent of the vote, and Richard Woods received 53.35 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. Beth Farokhi received 32.66 percent of the vote, Joe Martin received 52.49 percent of the vote, and Brian Westlake received 14.84 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.