PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A red wave crashed on Pike County on election night, with voters sending several Democratic office-holders back home, in favor of Republican replacements.
County Clerk Rhonda Taylor oversaw her defeat for re-election in favor of Republican challenger Darrell Pugh. Pugh received 8,612 votes to Taylor’s 7,247.
Democrat Kevin Keene, who was appointed to the position of county attorney after Howard Keith Hall was elected circuit judge, was rejected by voters in favor of Republican Paul Howard Jr. by a 1,600-vote margin. The tally in that race was 8,635 for Howard, 7,056 for Keene.
Democratic County Judge-Executive Ray Jones will find himself dealing with an entirely Republican fiscal court, after all three Democratic incumbents lost their bids for re-election in favor of Ronald Scott in District 1, Clinard “Bubby” Adkins in District 2 and Orville Crit Blackburn in District 3.
Democratic incumbent Constable Danny Scott was defeated by Jamey Kidd in District 1, while Republican Alvin Newsome was elected District 2 constable.
Incumbent Sheriff Rodney Scott and coroner candidate Kevin Hall were among the rare Democrats to win their races in Pike County this year.
In city races, Allison Powers, Bob Shurtleff, Patrick McNamee and Steve Hartsock will form the Pikeville City Commission.
Elkhorn City Mayor Mike Taylor was re-elected and will be joined by Robert Lester, Abby Justice, Michael Stacy, Rocky Taylor, Sabrina Bennett and Nathan Scott Bryant on the city council.
Mike Steele, Joseph “Big Joe” Adkins, Beverlyjo Justice Osborne and Herbert “Trey” Deskins will form the Coal Run city commission.
AMENDMENTS
Pro-choice voters earned a red state win in Kentucky, with the defeat of Amendment 2, which would have stipulated there is no right to an abortion in the Kentucky Constitution. With 90 percent of the vote counted, the “no” votes were leading by 5 percentage points.
The other amendment on the ballot, which would allow to state legislature to call itself into special session, also went down in defeat. With 89 percent of that counted, “no” votes lead by 7 points.
STATE LEGISLATURE
Two of the last remaining Democratic lawmakers in the mountains found very different results in Tuesday’s voting.
Any red wave that hit Kentucky on Election Day appeared to have crested before reaching Floyd County, as 95th District state Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty held off a challenge from Republican Brandon Spencer, who himself was at one time a Democratic state representative.
Spencer edged Laferty in the district Pike County precincts, 1,546 to 1,194. However, Laferty dominated the Floyd County vote, beating Spencer by nearly 3,000 votes there.
The final tally in the 95th district was Laferty 59, Spencer 41.
It was a different story in the 94th District, where Democratic state Rep. Angie Hatton was seeking a fourth term. But while Hatton was able to carry her home county of Letcher by more than 1,100 votes, that was not nearly enough to overcome Dr. Jacob Justice’s nearly 1,700-vote margin in his home of Pike County or his 1,300-vote victory in Harlan County, which was just added to the district this year.
Overall, Justice won by a 57-43 margin.
FLOYD COUNTY
County Judge-Executive Robbie Williams, Sheriff John Hunt, and Prestonsburg Mayor Les Stapleton all easily won new terms in office.
In the District Judge’s race, Assistant County Attorney Tyler Green edged public advocate Brandis Bradley.
And Democrat Steve Little overcame two opponents in the race for jailer, after he knocked off incumbent Stuart “Bear” Halbert in the May primary.
Magistrates Mark Crider and Ronnie Akers both won new terms on the fiscal court in different styles, with Crider more than doubling his opponent and Akers surviving a scare.
School board members Linda Gearheart and Dr. Chandra Varia were re-elected.
Wheelwright Mayor Don “Booty” Hall was re-elected and will be joined by commission members Mike “Bub” Tackett Jr., Bill Newsome, Sam Little and Andy Wayne Akers.
On the Prestonsburg City Council, Rick Hughes was the top vote getter, with Shag Branham, B.D. Nunnery, David Gearheart, Josh Turner, Heather Ousley, Brittainy Branham and Bethany Joseph-Pennington all earning seats at the table.
JOHNSON COUNTY
Paintsville Mayor Bill Mike Runyon won a new term in office, edging out strong challenges from Ann Ratliff and Rick Preston. Runyon ended with 456 votes, to 310 for Ann Ratliff and 299 for Rick Preston.
Joining Runyon on the Paintsville city council are Ashley McKenzie, David “Coach” VanHoose, Roger “Bo” Belcher, Mike Conley, Kimberly Osborne-O’Bryan and Tim Hall.
Howard Willis Meek and Willard Burton were elected to the Johnson County Board of Education, while Joseph “Joe” Porter, Marvin Walker and Thomas “Walt” Crace were elected to the Paintsville school board.
MARTIN COUNTY
It’s been a strange term for the office of Martin County judge-executive.
William “Billbo” Davis was elected to the position in 2018, but he resigned abruptly during a fiscal court meeting in March of 2021. He was replaced by Victor Slone, who died 10 months after taking office. Then Colby Kirk was appointed to the position, but he stepped down after taking a position as head of One East Kentucky.
Last month, Gov. Andy Beshear appointed Dr. Lon Lafferty to fill out the remainder of the term, and on Tuesday voters elected him to serve the next term as well. Lafferty received more votes than all other candidates combined, in a race that was determined solely by write-in votes.
Also in Martin County, Inez Mayor Ed Daniels was elected to another term, and Bill Preece was elected jailer.
FEDERAL RACES
No surprises in congressional races, as all incumbents on the ballot, including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Fifth District Rep. Hal Rogers, easily won their re-election efforts.
In the only open congressional race on the ballot, Louisville’s Third District, Democratic state Sen. Morgan McGarvey easily defeated Republican businessman Stuart Ray, who ran as a “political outsider.” McGarvey nearly doubled Ray’s results, 62-38.
