Bitter Tenn. GOP Race Ends
Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate on Thursday after a bitter primary campaign to decide the party’s nominee to replace Sen. Bill Frist.
With 71% of precincts reporting, Corker had 48% of the vote, to Ed Bryant’s 35% and Van Hilleary’s 16%.
Former Reps. Hilleary and Bryant conceded late Thursday and congratulated Corker.
Corker will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in November. Ford, who had no serious opposition in the Democratic primary, was receiving 80% of the votes.
Frist, the Senate majority leader, who is stepping down to consider a possible presidential bid, didn’t endorse any of the three major GOP candidates.
At a Nashville victory rally, Ford criticized what he termed the negative campaign in the GOP primary.
“I hope and pray that the kind of division and hatred and negativism that defined their race in the summer won’t carry over into the fall,” Ford said.
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