Nathan Deal appeared briefly and spoke to about 500 supporters at the Gainesville Civic Center shortly after 10 p.m.

He said he'll wait a little while longer and watch results as Fulton County and Gwinnett county, two large metro Atlanta districts, still have to report all their precincts. The race is just too close to call.

Fulton County is Karen Handel's strong hold as she used be the chair of the county commission there before becoming Secretary of State.

Nathan Deal mingled with the crowd earlier in the evening. He said he feels confident especially because of large turnout in his home county of Hall.

The crowd has been cheering whenever there is an update and Deal shows up above 50 percent.

Nathan Deal says the believes some voters who supported Karen Handel in the Primary came his way in the Runoff. He says that's because they objected to Handel's negative campaign.

"We have seen people who have left her camp to come our way," he says. "We think they are all attributed it to the negative campaigning and character assassination," he says.

Deal was 11 points behind Handel in the primary 3 weeks ago. He has gotten a lot of support from Georgia's Republican establishment to close the gap.

Tags: election, Nathan Deal, elections, Georgia governor's race, runoff election, runoffs