This past week Kentucky held its elections for its state constitutional officials, along with a few other offices. Such elections were thought by some to be a preview of next year’s elections.
The early results looked promising for Republicans, as State Treasurer Allison Ball easily won re-election over the Democratic challenger Michael Bowman. Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles also easily defeated Democratic challenger Robert Haley Conway, as well as Libertarian candidate Josh Gilpin. Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Harmon was also re-elected, defeating the Democratic challenger Sheri Donahue and the Libertarian challenger Kyle Hugenberg.
Perhaps the biggest victories for the Republican Party were the Attorney General’s race (in which Daniel Cameron defeated former State House Speaker Greg Stumbo) and the Secretary of State’s race (in which Michael G. Adams defeated former Miss Kentucky Heather French Henry).
A couple of elections for seats in the State House being held in order to fill the unexpired terms were also won by Republicans, in which Samara Heavrin defeated Becky Miller in Kentucky’s Eighteenth District, while Kim Banta defeated Josh Blair in Kentucky’s Sixty-Third District.
Meanwhile, several non-partisan judicial races were held in order to fill unexpired terms, which consist of the following results:
Christopher Shea Nickell defeated Whitney Westerfield for the office of Justice of the Supreme Court, 1 st Supreme Court District.
Jacqueline M. Caldwell defeated Michael O. Caperton for the office of
Judge of the Court of Appeals, 3 rd Appellate District, 1 st Division.
Lisa Payne Jones ran unopposed and won the race for Circuit Judge, 6 th Judicial Circuit, 2 nd Division.
Joe Ross defeated Joe Hendricks in the race for Circuit Judge, 7 th Judicial Circuit.
John Reynolds defeated Julie Ruth Goodman in the race for Circuit Judge, 22 nd Judicial Circuit, 4 th Division.
Kent Varney defeated Justin Cory Hamilton for the position of Circuit
Judge- Family Court, 35 th Judicial Circuit, 3 rd Division.
Kenneth Harold Goff II ran unopposed and won the race for Circuit Judge, 46 th Judicial Circuit, 2 nd Division.
Bradley S. Butler defeated Beth Constant Ratley and Zanda Myers in the race for District Judge, 46 th Judicial District, 1 st Division.
But the main event for Election Night was the Gubernatorial race, in which the incumbent Matt Bevin (R) faced Attorney General Andrew Beshear (D). Early on in the race, Bevin had the lead. But when the number of precincts reporting reached 75%, Beshear took the lead and held on to an apparent victory. However, Bevin is refusing to concede the race, citing voter fraud. As a result, there will be a recanvassing, which is a reprint of each voting machine’s receipts
being done for the purpose of ensuring that the county election officials have correctly recorded the number of votes. This recanvassing will take place on November 14, and the State Board of Elections certify the results on November 25.
Will the recanvassing verify Beshear’s win, or will Bevin remain in office for another four years? Time will tell.
