In a bruising big-money battle that saw two sitting General Assembly members going head to head, state Sen. Jim Mathias defeated Delegate Michael McDermott for the seat representing Somerset, Worcester and the eastern side of Wicomico County.

In winning 52 percent of the vote to McDermott's 48 percent, Mathias was the only major Democrat to survive in Tuesday’s balloting.

Running an aggressive and media-savvy campaign that sought to reach across party lines, the incumbent senator won 19,133 votes. McDermott, one of the few Republican challengers to lose anywhere on the Shore, recorded 17,905 votes.

Mathias was a House of Delegates member for four years and has been a State Senate member for another four. McDermott is wrapping up his first four-year term in the House of Delegates.

The pair were battling to represent the newly redrawn District 38, which includes all of Worcester and Somerset counties, as well as eastern Wicomico, eastern and northern Salisbury’s neighborhoods.

Mathias is a former Ocean City mayor who works for a disaster mitigation business based in Snow Hill. McDermott, a Worcester County deputy sheriff, is a former Pocomoke City mayor.