By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
It was a night of changes in Carter County, with Olive Hill residents picking a new mayor and the county clerk role changing hands by a margin of just 40 votes – emphasizing the importance of each and every vote cast. But while there was plenty of change, not all voters were eager to change course. In Grayson, voters voiced their confidence in Mayor Troy Combs, voting to return him to office by a respectable margin.
In the Olive Hill mayoral race challenger Eric Rayburn took just over 60 percent of the vote, with 331 votes to incumbent Jerry Callihan’s 219, making Rayburn the new mayor-elect of the city. While in Grayson, results were flipped, with Mayor Troy Combs taking just over 60 percent, and beating challenger Derrick McKinney 546 to 363 votes.
In the city council races, Grayson had ten candidates vying for six seats. Robert Mullins took the most votes, with 524, followed by Jennifer McGlone with 502, Dustin Burchett with 450, Sudy Walker with 381, Tersa Griffith with 377, and Terry Stamper with 364. Mullins is the new face in the group, while McGlone, Burchett, Walker, Griffith and Stamper have served on council previously. Rounding out the candidates, Haley Bays and former councilman Michael Harper each took 361 votes, while Jody Greer received 208 and Andrew Hayes got 157.
In Olive Hill, council will consist of Kirk Wilburn with 359 votes, Tony Williams with 355, Shane Tackett with 307, Jennifer Madden with 294, Shannon Leadingham with 278, and Robert Barker with 276. Only two votes separated Barker from Brittany Rayburn, who received 274 votes.
Another close race leading to a shakeup in Carter County leadership came from the County Clerk’s office, where Debbie Johnston – who was appointed to complete the term of her late husband Michael Johnston – narrowly lost out to challenger Amy Greer. Greer, the Republican candidate, beat Johnston, a Democrat, by a margin of just 40 votes. While results changed throughout the evening with each new update, in the end Greer received 3,633 votes to Johnston’s 3,593 and a percentage of 50.28% to 49.72% in what was arguably the county’s closest contest.
In the second magisterial district seat vacated by McKinney during his run for mayor, former magistrate Morris Shearer (D) won with 972 votes to David Johnson’s (I) 288 votes. And in the first district incumbent Chris Huddle (R) received 1,075 votes to challenger Anthony Branham’s (D) 521 votes.
In the fifth district school board race incumbent Chris Perry lost to challenger Katrina Tackett, 492 votes to 608.
Carter County also voted to stick with Representative Patrick Flannery (R) over challenger Pam Lewis (D). Flannery received 4,575 votes to Lewis’s 2,610 votes, though other counties in the 96th District will need to report before the race can be called.
The same holds true in the Senate race where Carter County chose Andy Barr, 4,679 voters, over Charles Booker, 2,199; in the 4th Congressional District, where Ed Gallrein took 579 votes to Melissa Strange’s 187 and Jeremy Todd’s 22 votes; the 5th Congressional District, where Hal Rogers had 4,269 votes to Ned Pillersdorf’s 1,800, Mikel Wein’s 156, and Gerardo Serrano’s 76.
Carter County also voted overwhelmingly in support of Amendment 1, limiting a governor’s pardon power in the final days of office, voting 4,241 in favor of the amendment and 1,885 against.
In uncontested seats, Robin Webb maintains her seat as senator in the 18th District, Leslie Kiser-Roseberry will stay the PVA, Brandon Burton keeps his judge executive seat, Brian Bayes stays county attorney, Jeff May remains sheriff, R.W. Boggs stays jailer, George Sparks coroner, Millard Cordle third district magistrate, Danny Joe Holbrook fourth district magistrate, Bubba Johnson is the new fifth district magistrate, Rupert Wilhoit the district judge, Miranda Tussey second district school board member, and constables Brian Stevens, district one, Danny Davis, district two, Johnny Gifford, district three, Jhan Jarrell, district four, and Phillip Blevins, district five.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
