By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
The results of the election may not be known on a state and national level until all absentee ballots, mail-in ballots and other early voting results are added with the mechanically tabulated votes from election night. But at the end of the night on Tuesday Carter County was leaning toward reelecting President Trump. In the Senate race it looks like Mitch McConnell won handily.
President Trump received 8,773 votes across Carter County to Joe Biden’s 2,641. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen received 107 votes, and independent candidates Kanye West and Brock Pierce took 44 and 16 respectively.
In the United States Senate matchup, incumbent Mitch McConnell received 7,722 votes, while Democratic challenger Amy McGrath was a distant second with 3,253 votes. Libertarian candidate Brad Barron received 570 votes.
In the House race incumbent representative Harold “Hal” Rogers received 8,503 votes and challenger Matthew Ryan Best received 2,754.
In the state representative race incumbent Democrat Kathy Hinkle lost to local attorney and former county attorney Patrick Flannery, with Hinkle getting 3,360 votes to Flannery’s 8,105.
In nonpartisan judge races Robert C. Conley won over Chris Harris for Justice of the Supreme Court in the 7th Supreme Court District. Conley took 5,344 votes to Harris’s 3,582.
In the 37th Judicial Circuit Family Court race Derrick E. Willis won the support of Carter County. Willis had the most votes with 4,784 while challengers Jennifer Barker Neice took 3,576 and Gary E. Conn took 1,423 of the votes.
In the race for Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors race John Buch took the most votes with 5,306. Herbert Suttles had the next highest count with 4,953, Tracey J. Elliott with 4,515, Will Davis with 4,463 and Marcella Clay with 3,752.
In School Board races incumbent Rachel Fankell won with 1,158 votes to Scott Felty’s 767 in the First Educational District. In the Third District incumbent Lisa Ramey-Easterling received 1,302 votes. Write-in challenger Trish Brammell’s results will not be available until all the write-in and absentee votes have been counted, which could be as late as November 9. In the Fouth Educational District William M. Bradley, who ran unopposed, received 846 votes.
In the non-partisan race for Grayson City Council, where voters were allowed to choose up to six candidates, only five names were on the ballot. Incumbent candidate Derrick McKinney received 720 votes, Jerry Yates – who was appointed to fill an unexpired term – received 580 votes, Sudy Walker received 631 votes, and long-time council member Pearl Crum received 659 votes. Newcomer Bradley Cotten received 804 votes while results for Troy Combs, who ran as a write-in candidate for the sixth seat, will not be available until all write-in and absentee ballots have been counted. This could be as late as November 9.
In Olive Hill, where voters could also choose up to six candidates, the ranks of council remained unchanged. Current council member Eric Rayburn received 374 votes, Justin Dixon 410, Allen Stapleton 342, Wayne Russell 387, Shannon Shutte 378 and Chris Bledsoe 403.
On constitutional amendments Carter County voters voted for Amendment 1, the victim’s rights amendment popularly known at Marsy’s Law 5,708 to 3,855. On Amendment 2, which would extend terms for Kentucky judges from four to eight years, and for Commonwealth attorneys for six years until 2030 and eight years thereafter, Carter County voted against 6,464 to 2,648.The amendment also would have changed requirements for how long a candidate must have been a licensed lawyer before becoming eligible to run for office.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com