Hours after The Associated Press declared Grothman the winner, the Sheboygan County recount shrunk the margin to 215 votes, Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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In a stunning turn of events, what looked like a clear-cut victory for state Sen. Glenn Grothman in the 6th Congressional District GOP primary turned into a nail-biter early Wednesday morning after a re-compilation of Sheboygan County's vote.

Hours after The Associated Press declared Grothman the winner, the Sheboygan County recount shrunk the margin to 215 votes, with Grothman at an unofficial tally of 23,241 to Joe Leibham's 23,026.

The Leibham campaign early Wednesday greeted the development with caution, saying:

"Out of respect to the voters of the 6th Congressional District, I believe we need to allow the election officials to finish counting and double checking all of the votes cast in Tuesday's election."

The unofficial slim margin makes a recount seem inevitable. The counting problem is unexplained as of early Wednesday.

Grothman could not be reached for comment early Wednesday.

State Rep. Duey Stroebel (R-Town of Cedarburg) finished third and Tom Denow was far behind in fourth. The winner will go on to face Democrat Mark Harris, the Winnebago County executive.

Check back to JSOnline for developments to this story.

Elsewhere, three of the state's congressional incumbents easily won partisan primaries in their respective districts to give them a comfortable edge in the Nov. 4 general election.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan defeated Jeremy Ryan in the 1st District while U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore turned back the challenge of former state senator Gary George in the 4th District and U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy easily outpaced challenger Don Raihala in the 7th District.

Paul Ryan will face a familiar opponent, Rob Zerban, in November. Zerban, who lost to Ryan two years ago, defeated Amar Kaleka in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

Moore will face Republican Dan Sebring, who defeated David D. King on Tuesday. Moore defeated Sebring two years ago.

Duffy will face Democrat Kelly Westlund, who defeated challenger Mark Krsiean in Tuesday's primary.

In the 3rd Congressional District, Tony Kurtz will face U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, after defeating Republican challengers Ken Van Doren and Karen L. Mueller on Tuesday.