Mark Leyva said a torn retina left him half blind in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's primary, forcing him to shelve his campaigning.

Republican voters in Northwest Indiana saw the light anyway, Leyva said, by giving him a fourth chance to unseat veteran U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind.

"This has been a very special primary victory," Leyva said Wednesday, explaining that the blindness in one eye that left him bedridden for nearly two weeks now is subsiding.

"I just want to thank God and all my voters and supporters who give us hope and opportunity to change leadership in November," Leyva said.

Visclosky, a Merrillville Democrat first elected in 1984, has dispatched Leyva, a Highland carpenter, by more than 2-1 margins in each of their past three fall matchups. Visclosky drew no primary challenger.

Results released after sunrise Wednesday show Leyva secured the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District by capturing 4,053 votes in Lake County compared to 1,612 for his next closest competitor, Merrillville accountant Ric Holtz.