Lonnie Randolph struggled Wednesday to come up with a metaphor for the 222-vote victory he eked out a day earlier.

"How do you describe a night like that?" Randolph said Wednesday. "A basketball game or something -- five seconds on the clock and you're biting your nails."

Randolph scored a less than one-point victory -- 0.85 percent, to be exact --- over Gary School Board Member Michael Scott Sr. in the seven-Democrat primary race for state Senate District 2 seat.

Diane Smith finished third in the race to replace to her husband, state Sen. Sam Smith, D-East Chicago. And just 156 votes behind her -- in fourth place -- was Louis Vasquez III, of East Chicago.

Randolph, a former legislator who left the Senate a decade ago to become an East Chicago judge, now faces Republican Carl L. Dahlin Jr., of East Chicago, in November.

Lawson vs. Fletcher

State Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, said she fell asleep waiting for vote totals late Tuesday and awoke to hear Mayors Tom McDermott Jr., of Hammond, and Rudy Clay, of Gary, bickering about the sluggish Lake County returns on CNN.

The officials results early Wednesday morning showed Lawson scored a nearly 3-1 victory over political newcomer Raymond Fletcher in the Democratic primary for House District 1.

Lawson, who is seeking a sixth term, now faces Munster Republican Fernando Urzua in November.