Gov. Matt Bevin
By Lee Bratcher, Dustin Bratcher/OC Monitor
BEAVER DAM, Ky. — Around 16.5 percent of Ohio County’s registered voters turned out for Tuesday’s Primary Election, with county Republicans going with Robert Goforth instead of incumbent Matt Bevin for governor.
Ohio County’s voter turnout was 2.5 percent lower than the 2015 Primary Election, which had a bit more at stake with a race for Ohio County Circuit Court Clerk on the ballot. This year only state offices were on the ballot and there didn’t seem to be as much buzz as usual for an Election Day.
The race with the most buzz, however, was the race for Kentucky Governor. Statewide the incumbent, Bevin, did triumph in the end receiving around 52 percent of the vote, but Ohio County was one of 31 counties that went for Goforth.
Statewide Goforth received 39 percent of the vote, William E. Woods got around 5 percent and Ike Lawrence got around 3 percent.
A total of 1,620 registered Republicans turned out to the polls with 798 of them voting for Goforth/Michael T. Hogan while 694 voted for Bevin/Ralph A. Alvarado. In third, 80 voted for Woods/Justin B. Miller and 48 voted for Lawrence/James A. Rose.
On the Democratic side, Andy Beshear edged past Rocky Adkins by receiving around 38 percent of the vote. Adkins received around 33 percent of the vote while Adam Edelen captured around 28 percent and Geoff Young finished with around 2 percent of the vote.
In Ohio County, 1,318 county Democrats turned out with 539 voting for Beshear, 455 voting for Adkins, 294 voting for Edelen and 30 voting for Young.
In the Republican race for secretary of state, Michael G. Adams received around 41 percent of the vote, which was enough to win the nomination. Andrew English finished second to Adams with around 27 percent of the vote, Stephen L. Knipper received around 18 percent of the vote and Carl Nett got around 13 percent of the vote.
In Ohio County, Adams 575 votes bested English’s 408 votes.
On the Democratic side, former Miss America Heather French Henry received just over 70 percent of the state’s vote to seal the nomination for Secretary of State. The battle for second in the race was close as both Jason Blecher and Jason Griffith received just over 13 percent of the vote. Geoff Sebesta received around 3 percent of the vote.
Ohio County Democrats felt the same as Henry got 749 votes to Belcher’s 288, Griffith’s 179 and Sebesta’s 29.
There was just one primary race for Kentucky Attorney General, as Republican voters chose Daniel Cameron as their candidate. Cameron received around 55 percent of the vote, while his opponent Wil Schroder got around 45 percent.
In Ohio County, Republicans also voted for Cameron as their candidate for attorney general as he received 883 votes to Schroder’s 566 votes.
There was no primary race for the Democrats as Democratic attorney general candidate Greg Stumbo was unopposed.
In the state auditor’s race, Democrats chose Sheri Donahue as their candidate as she received around 47 percent of the vote. Kelsey Hayes Coots got around 33 percent of the vote and Chris Tobe got around 20 percent of the vote.
In Ohio County, Coots was the choice as she received 501 votes to Donahue’s 340 votes and Tobe’s 90 votes.
There was no primary race for Republican auditor because Republican incumbent Mike Harmon was unopposed.
The race for state treasurer followed suit and only had one primary race as Republican incumbent Allison Ball was unopposed.
On the Democrat’s side, Michael Bowman received around 66 percent of the vote to his opponent Josh Mers’ 34 percent to lock up the nomination for state treasurer.
In Ohio County, 831 Democrats voted for Bowman and 283 voted for Mers.
Lastly are the races for commissioner of agriculture with both a race for Republicans and Democrats, though there was a Republican incumbent running, Ryan Quarles.
In the Republican race for commissioner of agriculture, Quarles received around 82 percent of the vote statewide. His opponent, Bill Polyniak received just under 18 percent.
Ohio County Republicans also voted big for the incumbent as Quarles received 1,047 votes to Polyniak’s 410 votes.
On the Democrats side, Robert Conway received around 60 percent of the state’s vote to become the Democratic candidate for commissioner of agriculture. His opponent Joe Trigg picked up just under 40 percent of the votes.
In Ohio County, Democrats voted similarly as Conway received around 67 percent fo the vote to Trigg 33 percent.
While the total voter turnout was up 6.69 percent, the increase in Democrat votes cast for governor went from 178,514 in the 2015 Primary to 394,490 in this primary. An increase of 121 percent. The Republican vote increased by 23 percent.
In 2015, there were 392,701 total votes cast for governor.
Ohio County results and total state results – winners in bold. Voter turnout for Ohio County was 16.44 percent, state-wide was 18 percent.
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR – REPUBLICAN (Vote for 1)
Matthew G. BEVIN / Ralph A. ALVARADO — 694 – 42.84% — TOTAL — 136,060 – 52.36%
Robert GOFORTH / Michael T. HOGAN — 798 – 49.26% — TOTAL — 101,343 – 39%
Ike Lawrence / James Anthony ROSE — 48 – 2.96% — TOTAL — 8,412 – 3.14%
William E. WOODS / Justin B. MILLER — 80 – 4.94% — TOTAL — 14,039 – 5.40%
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR – DEMOCRAT (Vote for 1)
Rocky ADKINS / Stephanie HORNE — 455 – 34.52% — TOTAL — 125,970 – 31.93%
Andy BESHEAR / Jacqueline COLEMAN — 539 – 40.90% — TOTAL — 149,438 – 37.88%
Adam H. EDELEN / Gill HOLLAND — 294 – 22.31% — TOTAL — 110,159 – 27.92%
Geoffrey M. “Geoff” YOUNG / Joshua N. “Josh” FRENCH — 30 – 2.28% — TOTAL — 8,923 – 2.26%
SECRETARY OF STATE – REPUBLICAN (Vote for 1)
Michael G. ADAMS — 575 – 40.07% — TOTAL — 94,404 -41.26%
Andrew ENGLISH — 408 – 28.43% — TOTAL — 62,677 – 27.40%
Stephen L. KNIPPER — 275 – 19.16% — TOTAL — 41,367 – 18.08%
Carl NETT — 177 – 12.33% — TOTAL — 30,340 – 13.26%
SECRETARY OF STATE – DEMOCRAT (Vote for 1)
Jason BELCHER — 288 – 23.13% — TOTAL — 47,923 – 12.91%
Jason GRIFFITH — 179 – 14.38% — TOTAL — 47,655 – 12.84%
Heather French HENRY — 749 – 60.16% — TOTAL — 263,419 – 70.99%
Geoff SEBESTA — 0 – 0% — TOTAL — 12,088 – 3.26%
ATTORNEY GENERAL – REPUBLICAN (Vote for 1)
Daniel CAMERON — 883 – 60.94% — TOTAL — 132,400 – 55.32%
Wil SCHROADER — 566 – 30.06% — TOTAL — 106,950 – 44.68%
Democratic candidate for attorney general Greg Stumbo was unopposed and therefore did not appear on the Primary ballot.
AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS – DEMOCRATIC (Vote for 1)
Kelsey Hayes COOTS — 501 – 53.81% — TOTAL — 95,685 – 33.09%
Sheri DONAHUE — 340 – 36.52% — TOTAL — 134,952 – 46.67%
Chris TOBE — 90 – 9.67% — TOTAL — 58,548 – 20.25%
Incumbent Republican candidate for auditor Mike Harmon was unopposed and therefore did not appear on the Primary ballot.
STATE TREASURER – DEMOCRATIC (Vote for 1)
Michael BOWMAN — 831 – 74.60% — TOTAL — 218,174 – 66.41%
Josh MERS — 283 – 25.40% — TOTAL — 110,349 – 33.59%
Incumbent Republican candidate for state treasurer Allison Ball was unopposed and therefore did not appear on the Primary ballot.
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE – REPUBLICAN (Vote for 1)
Bill POLYNIAK — 410 – 28.14% — TOTAL — 41,971 – 17.79%
Ryan F. QUARLES — 1,047 – 71.86% — TOTAL — 193,994 – 82.21%
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE – DEMOCRAT (Vote for 1)
Robert Haley CONWAY — 793 – 66.86% — TOTAL — 202,864 – 60.22%
Joe TRIGG — 393 – 33.14% — TOTAL — 134,009 – 39.78%