Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
Daniel Cameron, Kentucky Attorney General
By Lee Bratcher, Dustin Bratcher/OC Monitor
HARTFORD, Ky. — On a night where most of the state election contests were won convincingly by Republicans, the governorship will stay with the Democrats as incumbent Andy Beshear defeated his Republican opponent Daniel Cameron by about 6% of the state vote.
After a long campaign season, where, depending on which poll you read, either the race was too close to call or the incumbent Beshear was up by 10 points, it finished somewhere in the middle.
Most of the state races were called by news outlets around 7:30 p.m. after around 70% of the votes had been counted. However, no outlet was ready to call the governor’s race for at least another 15 minutes when NBC called it for Beshear. CNN called the race for Beshear about 15 minutes later. Around 8:20 p.m., Cameron conceded the race to Beshear.
At this time, unofficially, after all counties reported, the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website has Beshear ahead of Cameron by 67,174 votes. In total, Beshear received 693,370 votes to Cameron’s 626,196 votes. Write-in candidate Brian Fishback received 68 total votes.
A total of 1,319,634 votes were cast in the governor’s race and 38.03% of the state’s registered voters voted today.
In Ohio County, the Cameron/Mills ticket won 61%, while Beshear/Coleman received 39% of the vote. Cameron outperformed former Republican Governor Matt Bevin in the 2019 General Election in Ohio County. In 2019, Bevin only won 57% of the Ohio County vote to Beshear’s 40% with around 3% of the Ohio County voters voting for Libertarian John Hicks in 2019.
In other races on the ballot, the Republicans had easy nights as many won their races by around 20% of the vote.
In the Kentucky Attorney General’s race, Republican Russel Coleman won around 58% of the statewide vote to his democratic opponent Pamela Stevenson’s 42%.
In Ohio County, the Kentucky Attorney General’s race was won by Coleman who secured 73% of the county vote. Stevenson won just 27% of the county vote.
In the Kentucky Secretary of State race, incumbent Republican Michael Adams won easily receiving 60% of the state vote to his opponent, Democrat Buddy Wheatley’s 40%. Write-in candidate Kenneth Moellman received less than 1% of the state vote.
In Ohio County, Adams did even better, as he won 72% of the county vote, while Wheatley got 28% of the vote and Moellman received 0 votes.
The Kentucky Auditor’s race was won by the current Kentucky treasurer, Republican Allison Ball. Ball received 61% of the statewide vote to Democrat Kim Reeder’s 39%.
In Ohio County, Ball won 73% of the vote with Reeder getting 27% of the vote.
In the race for Kentucky Treasurer, Republican Mark Metcalf defeated Democrat Michael Bowman, as Metcalf won 57% of the state vote to Bowman’s 43%. Write-in candidate Robert Perry received less than 1% percent of the state vote.
In Ohio County, Metcalf received 71% of the vote to Bowman’s 29% of the county vote. Perry received no votes.
In the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture race, Republican Jonathan Shell received 59% of the state vote to Democrat Sierra Enlow’s 41%.
In Ohio County, Shell won 74% of the vote to Enlow’s 26% of the vote.
In addition to the state races, there were several local races on the ballot in Ohio County, but only in certain cities or districts.
The City of McHenry elected its city commissioners tonight, though only two candidates filed for office. Both Misty Riger and Joshua Chinn will join the McHenry City Commission. That leaves two seats open.
The City of Rockport elected a new mayor and city commission tonight. Incumbent Mayor Robert Harris was elected to another term. He ran unopposed.
As for the Rockport City Commission, just three residents filed to fill the four seats. Donna Harris, Michelle Ates, and Justin Dockery will fill three of the commission seats.
The Ohio County School Board saw two incumbents win re-election tonight, though both ran unopposed. In the 1st District, incumbent Cydnee Cook was re-elected to the school board. In the 4th District, incumbent Helen Dever was re-elected to the school board.
All results are unofficial with winners in bold. Statewide election results are as of this writing. Incumbents are denoted with an *.
OHIO COUNTY STRAIGHT PARTY TOTALS
Republican Party — 2,572 – 72.53%
Democratic Party — 974 – 27.47%
Voter Turnout – 6,339 or 36.62% of registered voters in Ohio County
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Andy BESHEAR/Jacqueline COLEMAN* (D) — 2,479 – 39.24% — Statewide – 0%
Daniel CAMERON/Robert M. “Robby” MILLS (R) — 3,839 – 60.76% — Statewide – 0%
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Pamela STEVENSON (D) — 1,700 – 27.48% — Statewide – 0%
Russell COLEMAN (R) — 4,487 – 72.52% — Statewide – 0%
SECRETARY OF STATE
Charles “Buddy” WHEATLEY (D) — 1,693 – 27.52% — Statewide – 0%
Michael ADAMS* (R) — 4,459 – 72.48% — Statewide – 0%
AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
Kimberley “Kim” REEDER (D) — 1,676 – 27.33% — Statewide – 0%
Allison BALL* (R) — 4,456 – 72.67% — Statewide – 0%
STATE TREASURER
Michael BOWMAN (D) — 1,794 – 29.30% — Statewide – 0%
Mark H. METCALF (R) — 4,329 – 70.70% — Statewide – 0%
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
Sierra J. ENLOW (D) — 1,619 – 26.35% — Statewide – 0%
Jonathan SHELL (R) — 4,526 – 73.65% — Statewide – 0%
MEMBER BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1st EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT (NONPARTISAN)
Cydnee S. COOK* — 689 – 100%
MEMBER BOARD OF EDUCATION, 4th EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT (NONPARTISAN)
Helen DEVER* — 674 – 100%
CITY COMMISSIONERS CITY OF MCHENRY, FOUR SEATS (NONPARTISAN)
Misty RIGER — 5 – 62%
Joshua CHINN — 3 – 38%
CITY COMMISSIONERS CITY OF ROCKPORT, FOUR SEATS (NONPARTISAN)
Donna K Harris — 5 – 36%
Michelle Lynne ATES — 5 – 36%
Justin DOCKERY — 4 – 29%
MAYOR CITY OF ROCKPORT (NONPARTISAN)
Robert K Harris* — 7 – 100%
