Monroe County will keep the same two state representatives in the Tennessee General Assembly after incumbent Republicans Jimmy Matlock, 21st House District, and John Forgety, 23rd House District, swept to landslide victories in Tuesday's election.

Monroe County will get a new, but at the same time familiar face for state senator, as beginning the day after the election, Mike Bell took over for Randy McNally due to re-districting.

Bell previously served as a state representative for Monroe County in the 23rd State House District. He won a Senate seat in 2010.

Not only did Republican state lawmakers fair well Tuesday in Monroe County, the GOP increased its majority statewide in both bodies of the Tennessee General Assembly.

Republicans now have a "super majority" in both the Tennessee House (70 to 28) and Senate (26 to 7).

But will that mean big changes for Tennessee?

Not necessarily, according to Bell.

Bell points out, the GOP already had majorities in both bodies and has passed a lot of legislation following Gov. Bill Haslam's lead.

Bell said having a super majority means that even if the Democrats walked out of sessions, as happened in Wisconsin not long ago, there are now enough Republicans to still conduct business since they would still have a quorum.

"That (a walkout) has never happened in Tennessee," Bell said.

The state senator said Nashville is not as partisan as Washington, D.C.

"In Nashville, we will fuss and fight, but we also know it is not personal," Bell said.

Matlock and Bell said legislators will face some key issues right off the bat when the 108th General Assembly opens session in January.

One of those issues will be whetherto expand Tennessee's Medicaid/TennCare program under the Affordable Health Care Act often known as "Obama Care."

Bell and Matlock said state lawmakers will look at possibly cutting the sales tax on food again, as was done in the last session.

Other issues that will likely come up include reforming workman's compensation in Tennessee and school vouchers, allowing public funds to be used for private school tuition.