By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Primary elections rarely have as heavy a turn-out as general elections and Carter County was no different with less than ten percent voter turnout on Tuesday.
The main draw, of course, was the Presidential primary. While the prospective nominees are already locked in by this point – with primary voters in other states picking a Trump-Biden rematch for us – there are still other candidates on the ballot in Kentucky. Even if it isn’t likely to change the race come November, the inclusion of these other candidates does give voters the opportunity to express their support for, or discontent with, their party’s nominees. At the very least it’s a symbolic display of support or lack of support for a candidate. Ideally it could send a message to the party that they need to offer better candidates.
That’s something Carter County Democrats needs to keep in mind, as the presumptive nominee, incumbent President Joe Biden took only 52% of the vote at 405 votes, with 79, or 10%, casting a ballot for Marianne Williamson, and 73 placing a vote for Dean Phillips, giving him 9.4%. More than a quarter of Democratic voters, 219 or 28%, chose to remain uncommitted.
In the GOP primary, Republican voters overwhelmingly came out in support of former President Donald Trump. The presumptive nominee in the crowded field took almost 92% of the vote, with 1,479 votes to Ryan Binkley’s two votes, Vivek Ramaswamy’s six votes, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s 37, Chris Christie’s 12, and Nikki Haley’s 36. Another 40 GOP voters, almost 2.5%, chose to cast an uncommitted ballot.
In the GOP U.S. House race in District 4, Michael McGinnis took 27 votes, Eric Deters 23, and Thomas Massie 179. Massie, the incumbent, will face off against the presumed Democratic rival Matthew Lehman, who did not appear on the Democratic primary ballot.
In District 5, it was incumbent Hal Rogers who came out on top with 1,058 primary votes, followed by Dana Edwards with 122, Brandon Monhollen with 87, and David Kraftchak with 42. Rogers does not face any Democratic challengers to his seat this November.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
