Sugarland, Texas ? Rep. Tom DeLay won the GOP nomination to the House on Tuesday, beating three challengers in his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader.

With 14 percent of precincts reporting, DeLay had 10,005 votes, or 64 percent. His closest challenger, environmental attorney Tom Campbell, had 4,049 votes, or 26 percent.

“I have always placed my faith in the voters, and today’s vote shows they have placed their full faith in me,” DeLay said in a statement. “Not only did they reject the politics of personal destruction, but they strongly rejected the candidates who used those Democrat tactics as their platform.”

In the other big Texas primary race, a former Democratic congressman from Houston won the right to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Perry in a state where the GOP holds every statewide office.

Chris Bell prevailed over Bob Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice who jumped into the race in December. Perry won his primary easily, collecting 85 percent of the vote against three little-known opponents.

There could be a historic four-way race for governor in November. Two independents with considerable charisma – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and musician and professional wiseacre Kinky Friedman – are seeking enough signatures from voters who do not vote in the primary to get onto the fall ballot.

DeLay, 58, was indicted last year and is awaiting trial on charges he illegally funneled corporate donations to GOP candidates for the Texas House in 2002. The Republicans won a majority in the Legislature that year, and then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Republicans to Washington in 2004.

He also has come under scrutiny over his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud in January and is cooperating in an investigation of influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.

Tuesday’s contest was DeLay’s first serious primary challenge in the 22 years since he took office.