Doug Collins and Martha Zoller will be at each other’s throats for another month after neither candidate had enough votes to nab the Republican nomination in Georgia’s 9th District U.S. House race.

Roger Fitzpatrick’s campaign earned him nearly 17 percent of the vote, a level of support that served as a wedge between either of the other candidates’ chance at a majority Tuesday.

The two Republicans from Hall County were neck-and-neck in Tuesday’s vote totals, with Collins eking out a 525 vote lead over Zoller at the end of the night.

Asked about the nail-biting returns, Collins said, “we’ve got plenty of nails left.”

Collins and Zoller now meet in an Aug. 21 runoff. The winner will advance to the November election against Democrat Jody Cooley, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

Each wants to represent all or parts of 20 conservative Northeast Georgia counties in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Collins led voting in 12 counties that were largely located on the outer edges of the district.

“We feel good about where we are,” Collins said.

Zoller had strong support in six of the district’s central and southern counties. And in their home county of Hall, Zoller beat Collins by more than 1,000 votes.

The former host of a conservative radio talk show said she was “humbled” by the support she received in her first political campaign. Zoller said only a few months ago, she was told she’d be “crushed” on primary night. She ended the night with more than 41 percent of the vote.

“Well, I didn’t get crushed tonight,” she said. “I did pretty darn good.”

After the returns, both she and Collins said they were looking to the runoff, not just to increase their numbers of supporters in the district but to make sure their existing backers return in three weeks.

“Any runoff is about getting your voters back out, and we plan on doing that,” Collins said.

The two are already seeking the support of Fitzpatrick, who managed a strong showing Tuesday following a campaign that cost him less than $12,000 and, for him, lasted six months. In contrast, his opponents spent six figures on their campaigns and have been campaigning since last fall.

Fitzpatrick, the only candidate in the Republican race not from Hall County, said he’d received calls from both Collins and Zoller by the time the votes were tallied Tuesday.

He will likely decide by the end of today whom he will support.

“I have concerns about both of them,” said Fitzpatrick, a retired educator from Cleveland. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do right now.”

Fitzpatrick’s support in his home county of White was more than double that of Collins, who represented the southern portion of White County in the General Assembly.

White County proved to be the only county in the district where Fitzpatrick came out on top. He grabbed nearly 46 percent of the county’s support.

Fitzpatrick had a campaign run largely by family and friends and on little money, but he campaigned on a return to “the original intent” of the U.S. Constitution, expressed confidence that his was the “winning message.”

He said he’ll continue to fight for that message in the future.

“Our country is worth fighting for,” he said. “While I may not be fighting in the halls of Congress, I can fight in another capacity somewhere else.”