Faced with losing a seven-county race by just 34 votes, local Democratic State Senate hopeful Steve Roller says he will wait until the votes are made official before conceding to apparent winner Jim Lewis.“We were about to concede Thursday night but then we found that all the votes may not be in and in a race this close, just a handful of votes can make a difference,” Roller said.As the unofficial vote stood Saturday, Roller trailed 2,935 to 2,901 with Justin Walling of Van Buren County just a few votes behind at 2,877.All three men carried counties in the district with each dominating their home counties. Lewis took the most counties with three, including Sequatchie, Grundy and his home county of Marion. Roller won both Coffee and his home Warren County, while Walling won Franklin County and his home Van Buren County.Roller admitted the split of votes in Warren County may have been the difference as there were two more Democrats and a Republican running for State Senate here.
Roller loses Senate bid by 34 votes