Bowling, Lewis win primaries in state Senate District 16

NASHVILLE - Republican Janice Bowling of Tullahoma easily cruised to victory in the 16th Senate District GOP primary Thursday while Democrat Jim Lewis of Kimball appears to have narrowly wrested a win in his five-man primary, unofficial election returns show.

The Tennessee Secretary of State website shows Bowling, who has run twice unsuccessfully for Congress, won her four-person contest with 8,159, or 60 percent, of the Republican primary's total votes.

Lewis, a former state senator from Marion County, won 2,935, or 29.23 percent, of the total votes in the Democratic primary.

Former state senator Steve Roller of Smithville received 2,901 votes, or 28.8 percent, while Justin Walling, a one-time aide to former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, R-Tenn., got 2,877 votes, or 28.6 percent.

Final election results won't become official until later this month. The district is comprised of Marion, Grundy, Sequatchie, Coffee, Franklin, Warren and Van Buren counties.

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