Lee Fisher Wins Ohio Democratic Primary For U.S. Senate Race

Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, a former Ohio attorney, won the state's Democratic primary for the Senate race.

Backed by Democrats in Washington, Fisher withstood a challenge from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to capture the party's Senate nomination.

Fisher and Brunner ran to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich. Fisher will face former Rep. Rob Portman, the budget director and trade representative under George W. Bush.

Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina held primaries Tuesday to determine party nominees for the midterm elections in November.

Turnout was exceptionally light in Ohio and North Carolina, a possible indication that the anger fueling voters across the country over economic woes, persistently high unemployment and Congress itself wasn't translating into votes -- and, perhaps, the limited influence of the conservatives and libertarians who make up the fledgling tea party coalition.

In all three states, candidates backed by Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington squared off against challengers drawing their support from elsewhere. While it's difficult to draw concrete conclusions about the state of the country from just a few races, the results gave some idea of whether the national parties still can influence rank-and-file supporters.

At the very least, the outcome of Tuesday's primaries -- the first set of contests in the two months since Texas held its March primary -- set the stage for November's congressional matchups and provided early insights about voter attitudes ahead of this fall's elections.