Republican Ryan Lauer won his primary for the Statehouse District 59 race with 36 percent in the six-way race.

District 59 covers most of Bartholomew County. The seat is now held by Rep. Milo Smith, a Columbus Republican, who decided not to seek re-election. That led to an eight-candidate race for the open Statehouse seat.

His closest competitor was Joanne Flohr with 25 percent. Lauer says the work is far from over, as he looks ahead to the November general election.

Lauer will face Democrat Dale Nowlin, who defeated Mary Kohen with 62 percent of the vote yesterday.

Incumbent Republican State Rep. Sean Eberhart has won his primary race in District 57  which centers in Shelbyville. but includes northeastern Bartholomew County, while incumbent State Rep. Jim Lucas has won the District 69 GOP primary, which includes the very southern portion of Bartholomew County in that Seymour district.