District Court senior law clerk Steve Frankino and state prosecutor Kathy Seeley were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday's six-person primary for an open bench in Helena's District Court.

With more than 13,700 votes counted in the race, Frankino led with a tally of 3,739. Seeley had 3,243, according to Lewis and Clark County's unofficial election results at 11:30 p.m.

Frankino and Seeley will square off Nov. 4 in the nonpartisan General Election for the open seat now held by Judge Thomas Honzel, who is retiring after nearly 25 years on the bench.

"I feel great," Frankino said. "I'm very happy, and I'd like to thank all my supporters and contributors. Now it's off to November. Let's win there."

Seeley could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

The two candidates survived a grueling six-person race for the nominations, which spurred campaign spending on television advertisements, billboards and more. Attorney Dennis Loveless was running third with 2,374 votes. Deputy County Attorney K. Paul Stahl was fourth with 1,947; attorney Greg Duncan was fifth with 1,255; and City Attorney Dave Nielsen netted 1,182 votes.