Roger Kane won the Republican primary in the newly formed 89th House district. He celebrated Thursday evening at the Crowne Plaza in Downtown Knoxville.
Kane won 42 percent of the vote and says he's elated. He lives in the Karns area and has a background in financial planning and insurance. He says it was a tough campaign.
Another candidate, former long-time Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison did not attend the Crowne Plaza Thursday evening.
Kane says going up against the kind of name recognition Hutchison has with voters was at times daunting.
"You know, it honestly at many times felt like a David and Goliath. And I mean Tim does have a good name; he's a campaigner. But we just stayed at it, didn't get distracted, kept our eye on the ball," he said.
Kane says he's passionate about a lot of issues, but one specific thing he hopes to impact is funding for vocational training.
He says some of the technical schools in his district haven't received significant funding increases in 20 years. He hopes to change that.