In a three-way race characterized by a slew of yard signs, mass mailings and a billboard on the back of a truck, incumbent state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, appears to have a sizeable lead in his reelection campaign, but one challenger said he wants to wait for all ballots to be tabulated.

Metcalfe has netted more than 20,000 votes as of midnight, giving him a 50-percentage point lead over Daniel Smith Jr., his Democratic challenger. More than 350 write-in votes were tallied, but the names on those were not immediately available. Republican Scott Timko ran a write-in campaign.

Results as of midnight do not include all mail-in, absentee, military and provisional ballots, and are not official.

Despite what appears to be a large victory for Metcalfe — who won the seat over Smith in 2018 by less than 20 percentage points — Smith said he wanted mail-in ballots counted.

“I think we're at a good spot, especially with the majority of Republicans out there voting in person,” he said. “I'm not throwing in the towel. We've still got time, but we're not expecting anything until tomorrow, maybe Thursday. It's just premature.”

Smith said he felt he had surprisingly good supportive turnout at polling places.

“We're hearing the chant 'anyone but Daryl,' which has been good,” Smith said Tuesday evening while the polls were still open.

Metcalfe, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, has held his current seat since 1999. Timko, who works as a private airline pilot, was flying Tuesday evening and could not reached for comment.

It was an aberration from past elections for Metcalfe, who faced challenges not only from the Democratic Party but from within his own party as well. While Timko had lost decisively in the primary, he rejoined the race as a write-in candidate following a federal appellate judge's at least temporary rebuke of a lawsuit which Metcalfe joined as a plaintiff.