PHOENIX (AP) — Trent Franks has won the Republican nomination for Arizona's 8th Congressional District by a big margin.

The 55-year-old Republican was seeking his sixth congressional term in the state's new Congressional District 8 in Tuesday's primary. Early returns show him with more than 80 percent of the vote.

Franks' old district covered the entire northwestern corner of the state but with redistricting only covers western parts of metropolitan Phoenix. The district remains solidly Republican.

Franks easily beat Glendale businessman and Navy veteran Tony Passalacqua and write-in candidate Helmuth Hack.

Others vying for the seat in the general election are Democrat Gene Scharer and Stephen Dolgos, who is running on the Americans Elect ticket.