Rep. Jenkins wins easily

By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com

   First District U.S. Rep. William L. "Bill" Jenkins was re-elected to his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives garnering thousands of votes in an uncontested race.
   Jenkins received 12,118 complimentary votes in Carter County and 22,894 votes in Washington County, according to unofficial vote totals.
   Tennessee's U.S. Congressional Delegation saw three new faces come on board on Election Day including a former Republican-held seat that went to a Democrat.
   Democratic State Sen. Lincoln Davis unofficially defeated Republican Janice Bowling for the 4th District congressional seat held by Republican Van Hilleary.
   Hilleary vacated the seat to run for governor, but lost to Democrat Phil Bredesen, according to unofficial results.
   The 5th District remained in the hands of the Democrats as Jim Cooper bested Republican Robert Duvall. The 5th District was held by U.S. Rep. Bob Clement who stepped down to run for senate.
   Unofficial vote totals had Cooper winning 63 percent to 34 percent for Duvall.
   The Associated Press reported GOP candidate Marsha Blackburn as the unofficial winner of the race for the U.S. House District 7 seat. Blackburn defeated Democrat Tim Barron to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Ed Bryant.
   Bryant vacated his congressional seat to run in the Republican Primary against Alexander.
   In other races, incumbent state Rep. Robert "Bob" Patton cruised to victory over Democratic challenger Mark Thomas in the 7th District state house race. Unofficial results had Patton receiving 63 percent of the ballots case to 37 percent for Thomas.
   Rep. Jason Mumpower also retained his 3rd District house seat winning over Democrat Van Carrier by 68 percent to 32 percent, according to unofficial results posted by the Sullivan County Election Commission.