Republican Ralph Smith won a close race for the Virginia Senate on Tuesday despite a last-minute crush of campaign contributions for his opponent, Democrat Mike Breiner.

The race, however, was closer than many anticipated when Smith declared his candidacy in January. It came down to the last several precincts. Smith didn't appear before his supporters at a victory party until 9:41 p.m., shortly after Breiner called to concede the race.

In his victory speech, Smith quoted the words of fictional race car driver Ricky Bobby, saying, "If you ain't first, you're last," before thanking his supporters and staff.

"There are so many people in this room: You made the difference right here," Smith said.

Smith ran largely on a theme of cutting inefficiency in government. He said he has always run his business that way, and this campaign was no different.

"I think this election demonstrated absolute efficiency, and I still pledge to take that message to Richmond for you," Smith said.

Breiner said that despite the loss he thought he ran well, making inroads in "historically a 58 [percent] to 60 percent solid block Republican" district.

"I made it pretty daggone close," Breiner said. "I don't know that I'd have done anything differently. I couldn't have worked any harder."

He said he hoped he "got the attention of Richmond," particularly with his talk on the issue of health care.

The 22nd Senate District, which includes Botetourt County, Salem, Radford and parts of Montgomery and Roanoke counties, is largely considered to be favorable to Republicans. Since redistricting in 2001, the district has voted red in every statewide election. That reputation was further deepened by the June primary in which Smith defeated incumbent Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County. In that race, Smith ran to the right of Bell, whom he cast as a fiscal RINO (Republican in Name Only) who supported a failed tax increase to pay for transportation costs in 2006.

Because of those dynamics, Smith, a former mayor of Roanoke, emerged from his primary victory as the favorite to win against the inexperienced and unproven Breiner, a Roanoke County plastic surgeon. But Democrats held high hopes that moderate voters, disenchanted by Bell's loss, might embrace Breiner.

He ran accordingly, centering his campaign largely around issues such as health care, the economy and transportation. And when Democrats saw internal polls showing the race might be winnable, they gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Breiner. From Oct. 1 to Oct. 24, he received more than $360,000 in cash and in-kind contributions, and he spent nearly $392,000, mostly on television ads.

During that same period, Smith raised about $61,000 and spent a little more than $90,000.

Smith, however, stuck largely to his game plan. After all, he was outspent by Bell by a 3-to-1 margin during the primary campaign. He continued to focus on his campaign theme of tackling government inefficiency, while introducing the topic of illegal immigration when the race became tighter in October.

Breiner won Montgomery County, as well as the cities of Salem and Radford. But Smith won Roanoke County and Botetourt County by enough of a margin to take the overall election.

Smith's status as a former Roanoke mayor confused some city voters, who had seen his and Breiner's television commercials and expected to cast a vote in the race. But Smith moved to Botetourt County in 2005, leaving John Edwards to run uncontested as the state senator representing Roanoke city.

Election officials at Ghent Grace Brethren Church said some voters arrived at the polling location expecting to vote in the 22nd Senate District race. At least one person who wished to vote against Smith left without voting after election officials explained the Smith/Breiner race was a different district.

Staff writer Jenny Kincaid Boone contributed to this report.