COEUR d'ALENE - A strong grassroots campaign and "a lot of prayer" helped Eric Redman defeat incumbent Rep. Ed Morse in Tuesday's Republican primary, according to the political newcomer.

"If you look at northern Idaho, God is really in charge," said Redman, who will be unopposed in the Nov. 4 general election for District 2, Seat B in Idaho's House of Representatives. "I'm not saying our opponents weren't believers, but I just feel it's a God thing."

The retiree from Rathdrum had a solid win with 61 percent of the vote - 2,897 votes compared to 1,849 cast for Morse.

His conservative running mate, incumbent Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, soundly won his own race against Fritz Wiedenhoff for District 2, Seat A with 67 percent of the votes cast in his favor.

Barbieri received 3,253 votes while Wiedenhoff - in his third run for public office - received 1,568 votes.

The 62-year-old retired attorney and small business owner will face Democrat Cheryl Stransky on Nov. 4. The two candidates competed in the 2012 general election with Barbieri beating out Stransky with 66 percent of the vote.

"I'm delighted about the results," Barbieri said. "I believe there was a lot more energy than the last election."

As he campaigned for the race with Redman and others from the far right's slate of candidates, Barbieri said he heard "a lot of the conservative message."

"We were hearing a lot of pooh-poohing of Common Core," he said. "People were upset."

Barbieri said voters definitely had some ire for candidates who said they would not support the health care exchange, but ultimately did. It showed at the polls, he said.

Redman said voters had expressed a lot of the same concerns he hinged his race on, including the health care exchange and improving the state's economy.

"Everyone wants to get our economy back," he said. "That's really what our goal is, to get the state sovereignty back that we're supposed to have based on the Constitution."

As the election approached, Redman said he wasn't sure if he would win or lose.

"I truly had hoped I'd win by quite a bit," he said, "so it was a statement of what we want up here in northern Idaho."