Primary Election Results
Kentucky voters went to the polls today to determine their party's nominee in a variety of races from State Senator to President of the United States. Voter turnout was around 13%, which is quite low but not necessarily out of the norm for a primary election. A full list of results from tonight's state legislative primary races are below, but we wanted to highlight a few main themes for the evening:
- Incumbents Did Well - Twenty two state legislative incumbents had primary opponents, 4 in the Senate and 18 in the House. Only one was defeated, Rep. Wade Hurt (D-Louisville). However his situation was somewhat unique, because he won the seat two years ago as a Republican after his Democrat opponent Jeff Donahue was disqualified. After winning Hurt switched parties to Democrat, but Donahue ran again this year and defeated Rep. Hurt tonight.
So aside from this one instance, it appears that voters generally were not ready to oust incumbents regardless of party. It will be interesting to see if this trend holds heading into November where there will be 45 state legislative incumbents that face a challenger.
- Tea Party Success Mixed - The Tea Party will tout the victory of Thomas Massie in the Republican Primary for the 4th Congressional District to replace Congressman Davis from today's primary election. His victory over several establishment candidates will have national appeal as a possible re-energizing of the Tea Party movement.
However at the state level there were several races that featured traditional establishment Republican candidates, many of whom were incumbents, that faced challengers from Tea Party endorsed candidates. In all of those the incumbents prevailed and the Tea Party generally came up flat. Two of those races were in the 4th Congressional District: Sen. John Schickel won with 77% of the vote over his Tea Party opponent and Rep. Addia Wuchner won with 53% of the vote over Cathy Flaig a strong Tea Party candidate in Northern KY.
So even in the same geographic area where the Tea Party was having success on a national stage there were no "coat tails" to down the ballot state legislative contests. This mixed result may play an important role heading into November state legislative elections where Republicans are trying to pick up 12 seats and gain the majority in the state House.
- President/Nationalizing Races – President Obama's popularity has never been perceived to be real high in Kentucky, however that was confirmed on Primary Election night when 42% of KY Democrat Primary voters opted to vote for Uncommitted rather than the President to be their nominee. Again this wasn't necessarily a surprise, but it may make some Democrat candidates in state legislative races this year a bit uneasy with President Obama on the ballot in November. That being said, Republicans have not yet shown a widespread ability to nationalize state legislative races successfully. Certainly it will be interesting to see if President Obama drags down Democrat candidates down the ballot in November.
Full List of State Legislative Primary Results
(10:01 pm with 99.17% precincts reporting)
Winners are marked in YELLOW & Incumbents are marked in RED
Name
|
Race
|
Total Votes
|
Percentage
|
David P. GIVENS (REP)
|
State Senator, 9th District - REP
|
4202
|
76
|
Don M. BUTLER II. (REP)
|
State Senator, 9th District - REP
|
1327
|
24
|
John SCHICKEL (REP)
|
State Senator, 11th District - REP
|
7022
|
76.9
|
Joshua L. TURNER (REP)
|
State Senator, 11th District - REP
|
2109
|
23.1
|
Joe E. LASWELL (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
33
|
0.28
|
Todd HOSKINS (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
244
|
2.09
|
Dennis MITCHELL (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
96
|
0.82
|
Chris GIRDLER (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
5775
|
49.57
|
A. C. DONAHUE (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
850
|
7.3
|
Mark F. POLSTON (REP)
|
State Senator, 15th District - REP
|
4653
|
39.94
|
Damon THAYER (REP)
|
State Senator, 17th District - REP
|
3687
|
63.2
|
Rick HOSTETLER (REP)
|
State Senator, 17th District - REP
|
2147
|
36.8
|
Sarah CUNNINGHAM
|
State Senator, 19th District - DEM
|
4261
|
34.49
|
Amy E. SHOEMAKER
|
State Senator, 19th District - DEM
|
1812
|
14.66
|
Gary DEMLING
|
State Senator, 19th District - DEM
|
1253
|
10.14
|
Morgan McGARVEY
|
State Senator, 19th District - DEM
|
5030
|
40.71
|
Will TERWORT (REP)
|
State Senator, 23rd District - REP
|
2442
|
37.74
|
Chris McDANIEL (REP)
|
State Senator, 23rd District - REP
|
4028
|
62.26
|
Denise HARPER ANGEL
|
State Senator, 35th District - DEM
|
5389
|
82.84
|
Curtis MORRISON
|
State Senator, 35th District - DEM
|
1116
|
17.16
|
Doug HAWKINS
|
State Senator, 37th District - REP
|
1180
|
36.23
|
John YUEN
|
State Senator, 37th District - REP
|
145
|
4.45
|
Chris THIENEMAN
|
State Senator, 37th District - REP
|
1932
|
59.32
|
Richard HEATH (REP)
|
State Representative, 2nd - REP
|
752
|
78.66
|
Patrick FISHER (REP)
|
State Representative, 2nd - REP
|
204
|
21.34
|
Arthur BYRN (DEM)
|
State Representative, 2nd - DEM
|
1213
|
30.18
|
Kelly WHITAKER (DEM)
|
State Representative, 2nd - DEM
|
2806
|
69.82
|
John A. ARNOLD JR. (DEM)
|
State Representative, 7th - DEM
|
2528
|
57.1
|
Jim MURPHY (DEM)
|
State Representative, 7th - DEM
|
1899
|
42.9
|
Jim GOOCH JR. (DEM)
|
State Representative, 12th - DEM
|
1569
|
66.04
|
James Jim" NANCE (DEM)"
|
State Representative, 12th - DEM
|
807
|
33.96
|
Jeremy WARFIELD (DEM)
|
State Representative, 13th - DEM
|
538
|
21.05
|
Jim GLENN (DEM)
|
State Representative, 13th - DEM
|
2018
|
78.95
|
Chris HIGHTOWER (REP)
|
State Representative, 16th - REP
|
412
|
53.44
|
Kent WILSON (REP)
|
State Representative, 16th - REP
|
359
|
46.56
|
Dottie J. SIMS (DEM)
|
State Representative, 19th - DEM
|
1017
|
62.78
|
Phinis Vernon HUNDLEY (DEM)
|
State Representative, 19th - DEM
|
603
|
37.22
|
Kendrick BRYAN (DEM)
|
State Representative, 25th - DEM
|
377
|
18.62
|
Jimmie LEE (DEM)
|
State Representative, 25th - DEM
|
1572
|
77.63
|
Glenn FONDA (DEM)
|
State Representative, 25th - DEM
|
76
|
3.75
|
Jonathan SHELL (REP)
|
State Representative, 36th - REP
|
2102
|
58.16
|
Nathan MICK (REP)
|
State Representative, 36th - REP
|
1512
|
41.84
|
Jeffery M. DONOHUE
|
State Representative, 37th - DEM
|
1132
|
63.38
|
Wade HURT
|
State Representative, 37th - DEM
|
654
|
36.62
|
Reginald K. MEEKS
|
State Representative, 42nd - DEM
|
2896
|
79.65
|
Wendy CASWELL
|
State Representative, 42nd - DEM
|
740
|
20.35
|
Stan LEE (REP)
|
State Representative, 45th - REP
|
2413
|
76.75
|
Chris TYLER (REP)
|
State Representative, 45th - REP
|
731
|
23.25
|
T. K. BROECKER (REP)
|
State Representative, 47th - REP
|
1018
|
58.84
|
Charity EDMONSTON (REP)
|
State Representative, 47th - REP
|
712
|
41.16
|
Scott W. REED
|
State Representative, 48th - REP
|
1026
|
32.48
|
Bob M. DeWEESE
|
State Representative, 48th - REP
|
2133
|
67.52
|
David FLOYD (REP)
|
State Representative, 50th - REP
|
894
|
72.62
|
Donna A. PEGAGO (REP)
|
State Representative, 50th - REP
|
337
|
27.38
|
Sara Beth GREGORY (REP)
|
State Representative, 52nd - REP
|
2580
|
69.32
|
David B. GOVER (REP)
|
State Representative, 52nd - REP
|
1142
|
30.68
|
Freddy HARBISON
|
State Representative, 53rd - REP
|
1204
|
24.91
|
Richard TREITZ
|
State Representative, 53rd - REP
|
699
|
14.46
|
Bart ROWLAND
|
State Representative, 53rd - REP
|
2930
|
60.62
|
Carl P. ROLLINS II. (DEM)
|
State Representative, 56th - DEM
|
2985
|
70.27
|
Jerry L. ATWOOD (DEM)
|
State Representative, 56th - DEM
|
1263
|
29.73
|
Brian E. LINDER (REP)
|
State Representative, 61st - REP
|
806
|
52.58
|
Scott BRUCE (REP)
|
State Representative, 61st - REP
|
727
|
47.42
|
Camilla Kay" PATTON (DEM)"
|
State Representative, 61st - DEM
|
1107
|
38.68
|
Wanda Crupper HAMMONS (DEM)
|
State Representative, 61st - DEM
|
1755
|
61.32
|
Walter A. STAROSCIAK (REP)
|
State Representative, 63rd - REP
|
1020
|
23.26
|
Diane ST. ONGE (REP)
|
State Representative, 63rd - REP
|
3366
|
76.74
|
William E. WOODS (REP)
|
State Representative, 66th - REP
|
196
|
5.2
|
Addia Kathryn WUCHNER (REP)
|
State Representative, 66th - REP
|
1995
|
52.9
|
Cathy H. FLAIG (REP)
|
State Representative, 66th - REP
|
1580
|
41.9
|
Richard MARRS (REP)
|
State Representative, 76th - REP
|
1049
|
62.7
|
Lavinia Theodoli SPIRITO (REP)
|
State Representative, 76th - REP
|
624
|
37.3
|
Bradley T. COPES (DEM)
|
State Representative, 78th - DEM
|
822
|
26.18
|
Thomas M. McKEE (DEM)
|
State Representative, 78th - DEM
|
2318
|
73.82
|
Chris LOGAN (REP)
|
State Representative, 79th - REP
|
972
|
72.75
|
Kenneth L. KEARNS II. (REP)
|
State Representative, 79th - REP
|
364
|
27.25
|
Roger COLDIRON
|
State Representative, 80th - REP
|
353
|
8.8
|
David MEADE
|
State Representative, 80th - REP
|
1843
|
45.93
|
Jerry Lee SHELTON
|
State Representative, 80th - REP
|
175
|
4.36
|
Mark EATON
|
State Representative, 80th - REP
|
1642
|
40.92
|
James Larry GOINS
|
State Representative, 82nd - REP
|
1078
|
22.73
|
Regina Petrey BUNCH
|
State Representative, 82nd - REP
|
3664
|
77.27
|
Marie L. RADER
|
State Representative, 89th - REP
|
2627
|
64.75
|
Carlos CAMERON
|
State Representative, 89th - REP
|
1430
|
35.25
|
Bobby HAMILTON
|
State Representative, 92nd - DEM
|
1246
|
24.05
|
John W. SHORT
|
State Representative, 92nd - DEM
|
3934
|
75.95
|
Tanya PULLIN (DEM)
|
State Representative, 98th - DEM
|
2444
|
74.02
|
Tyler MURPHY (DEM)
|
State Representative, 98th - DEM
|
858
|
25.98
|
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