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Raleigh, N.C. Republican voters have chosen state House Speaker Thom Tillis as their party's candidate to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, according to incomplete and unofficial returns.

Tillis captured more than the 40 percent of the vote he needed to avoid a runoff against his chief GOP rivals: Rev. Mark Harris of Charlotte and Dr. Greg Brannon of Cary.

"We need one big group hug," Tillis said as he addressed excited well-wishers Tuesday night. He then launched into a speech that lambasted Hagan for her support of President Barack Obama and his signature health care law.

Hagan easily won her party primary Tuesday night. Throughout the campaign, Tillis has said that he has been cleaning up Hagan's mess in Raleigh, a reference to her time as a state budget writer before Tillis' GOP took power in the state capital. He called the Affordable Care Act, what some call "Obamacare," a mess of Hagan's making.

"Kay Hagan made this mess," Tillis told cheering supporters. "I want you all to grab a broom and help sweep Kay Hagan out of office."

Eight Republicans filed to run for their party's nod, but Tillis has long been the choice of mainstream GOP figuressuch as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. In recent weeks, he has landed endorsements from 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory.

Those endorsements brought campaign cash and help from outside spenders like American Crossroads but also suspicion from the tea party wing of the party, which has seen Tillis as too ready to compromise with Democrats and too allied with corporate interests.

But that criticism didn't faze such Tillis supporters as Terry Lursen, 56, of Huntersville, who said he volunteered for the Mecklenburg County Republican because of "his leadership, his ability to know the right thing to do and have people follow him."Lursen cited Tillis' endorsements from the National Rifle Association and National Right to Life.

"The only people saying he's not conservative enough are the people who want to see him defeated. It's a deception," Lursen said.

Tillis was joined in Charlotte by fellow lawmakers, including Rep. Pat Hurley, R-Randolph, and Rep. Jacqueline Schaeffer, R-Mecklenburg.

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Tillis takes Republican Senate nomination