U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Rogers has defeated Little Rock businessman Curtis Coleman for the Republican Senate nomination.

The Associated Press called the race at 8:11 p.m. and Coleman said in a statement minutes earlier that he had conceded the election.

"I’ve just left a voice message for Senator John [Boozman] to congratulate him on his victory in today’s Republican U.S. Senate primary election and to assure him that I do not intend to let a liberal Democrat represent Arkansas in the United States Senate," Coleman said.

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Boozman will face former U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge of Fayetteville, a Democrat; former Tull Mayor Frank Gilbert, a Libertarian; and write-in candidate Jason Tate of Fayetteville in the Nov. 8 general election.

It was the second time in six years that Boozman and Coleman competed for the GOP nomination. In 2010, Boozman won nearly 53 percent of the vote in a field of eight candidates on his way to ousting Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln.

That year, Coleman finished fifth with less than 5 percent of the vote. He ran for public office again in 2014 but received only 27 percent of the vote in a loss to eventual winner Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the Republican primary.

Boozman was elected in 2001 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he worked for 10 years. In his first term as a senator, Boozman served on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, among others.

Coleman worked as the CEO of Safe Foods Corp., an international food-safety company headquartered in North Little Rock, until he retired in 2009. He also founded The Institute for Constitutional Policy, an educational nonprofit, and ArOne.TV, an Internet-based television station, according to his campaign website.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.