HARTFORD, Ky. — In years past, primary elections were used to whittle down the choices for the General Election in November. However, today’s primary election essentially decided the winner of several races in Ohio County, including judge-executive, First District Magistrate, Third District Magistrate, and Fourth District Magistrate, barring any write-in candidates winning in November. However, there was one result that may shock quite a few people, and not just in Ohio County, but also in Daviess County and Hancock County.
In the biggest national race of the night in Ohio County, several Republicans and Democrats competed against each other to be the nominee to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Senate.
In the Republican primary, there were 11 candidates, with current U.S. Representative Andy Barr securing the victory by collecting 2,219 votes or 61% of the county’s vote. Finishing second was Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron with 25% of the county’s vote, followed by Micahel James Faris with 6% of the vote, George Washington with 3% of the vote, five candidates receiving around 1% of the vote, and two candidates receiving less than 1% of the vote.
In the state, Barr also secured 61% of the Republican vote, and he will move on to the General Election to face Democratic challenger Charles Booker. Statewide, Cameron receive 31% of the vote, Faris received 3% of the vote, and Washington received 2% of the vote.
On the Democrats’ side, Booker will go on to face Barr in the November election, but in Ohio County, the voters chose Amy McGrath as she collected 466 votes, for 50% of the votes, with Booker receiving just 286 votes, or 30% of the county vote. Pamela Stevenson, Logan Forsythe, and Vincent Anthony Thompson all received 5% of the county vote, Dale Lewis Romans received 4% of the vote, and Joshua Blanton Jr. received 1% of the county vote.
Statewide, Booker won 42% of the Democratic vote to McGrath’s 39%. Stevenson received 6%, Romans 4%, Forsythe 2%, and Thompson and Blanton both received 1% of the state Democratic vote.
In the state races, in the 2nd Congressional District, Incumbent U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie won 82% of the Republican Ohio County vote. Joshua Ferguson received 12% of the vote, and Shay Perry-Adelmann received 6% of the vote.
Overall in the 2nd Congressional District, Guthrie won the Republican nomination by receiving 85% of the vote to Ferguson’s 10% and Perry-Adelmann’s 5%.
On the Democratic side of the 2nd Congressional District primary, both Ohio County and the state Democrats went with Megan Wingfield. Wingfield received 38% of the county Democratic vote, with David Hatfield receiving 33%, William Dakota Compton receiving 15%, and Hank Linderman also receiving 15%.
In the 2nd Congressional District, Wingfield received 40% of the vote to move on to face Guthrie in the General Election. Linderman received 22% of the district Democratic vote, with Hatfield receivin 21% and Compton receiving 17%.
Maybe the biggest surprise of the night occurred in the Republican primary for state Representative for the 14th District. Ohio County-native Marty Shephard received 58% of the Republican votes in Ohio County, to Hancock County Native Wes Pate’s 1,745 of Ohio County’s vote. That’s 58% of the vote to Shephard and 42% of the vote to Pate.
It’s no surprise that Shephard carried Ohio County, but that he received just 58% of the votes. Pate received 89% of the vote in Hancock County and 73% of the vote in Daviess County,
The final total was Pate 3,853 to Shephard’s 2,832, and Pate will be the Republican nominee in the November election. Pate will face Democrat Donna Haynes.
If just 80% of Ohio County had voted for Shephard, he would have won the nomination by over 800 votes. That result is likely to baffle many for a long time.
The biggest county race of the night was for judge-executive as three Republican challengers faced off for the office. With incumbent David Johnston not seeking re-election with plans to retire after his term ends, Ohio County will have a new judge-executive in 2027, and it appears that will be former Ohio County Sheriff Tracy Beatty.
Beatty held off his challengers, Jason Bullock and Niki Tichenor Riley, by securing 41% of the Ohio County Republican vote. The race was tight as Bullock recieved 37% of the vote and Riley received 22%.
As of this moment, Beatty has no Democratic challenger for the November Election.
In other county races, all Republican primaries, incumbent First District Magistrate Michael McKenney held off challenger Dwight Smith by wining 59% of the Republican vote. Smith won 41% of the vote.
McKenney has no Democratic opponent for the General Election.
In the Second District Magistrate’s Republican primary, Jesse Chinn won 47% of the vote to secure the nomination. His opponents, Jay Ross Jarvis, won 39% of the vote, and Joyce Crump won 14% of the vote.
Chinn will go on to face Democrat Robert Hicks in the November election.
In the Third District Magistrate Republican primary, we have our first upset of the night as incumbent Bo Bennett fell to Scott Tichenor. Tichenor received 58% of the vote to Bennett’s 25%, and a third opponent, Joe Grider, received 17% f the vote.
Tichenor has no Democratic opponent for the General Election.
In the Republican race for Fourth District Magistrate, incumbent Dale Beavin defeated his opponent, Justin Miller. Beavin received 69% of the vote to Miller’s 31%.
Beavin has no Democratic challenger for the November election.
The Republican race for Fifth District Magistrate was a wild one as six challengers campaigned to upend incumbent Larry Morphew. In the end, Morphew prevailed by eight votes. Morphew received 290 votes to Gerry “Rip” Wright’s 282 votes. Both Morphew and Wright received 28% of the vote.
Renetta Bratcher-Romero received 16% of the vote, DeWayne Johnson receive 13%, Jarod Basham received 8%, Melissa Palermino received 4%, and Christopher Basham received 3%.
Morphew will face off against Democratic opponent Phillip Michael Kirtley in November.
Lastly, the county had four constable races, and all were Republican primaries.
In the First District, Jeff Ashby defeated Joe Renfrow, 340 votes to 294. Ashby has no Democratic opponent for the General Election.
In the Third District, Tim Griffin defeated Jeremy Nance, 518 votes to 323. Griffin has no Democratic challenger for the November election.
In the Fourth District, Jeff Matthews defeated Brad Keleams, 384 votes to 287. Matthews will have no Democratic opponent in November.
In the Fifth District, Nathan Geary defeated James Gilstrap, 634 votes to 305. Geary will have no Democratic opponent in the General Election.
All results are unofficial with winners in bold. Statewide election results are as of this writing. Ohio County has 16,839 registered voters.
Voter Turnout – 5,188, which is 30.81% of registered voters in Ohio County. Statewide voter turnout was 20.58%, as of this writing.
Ohio County Judge Executive – Republican Candidate
Tracy BEATTY — 1,725 – 41%
Jason BULLOCK — 1,577 – 37%
Niki RILEY-TICHENOR — 906 – 22%
First District Magistrate for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Michael R. McKENNEY — 263 – 59%
William Dwight SMITH — 180 – 41%
Second District Magistrate for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Jesse Warren CHINN — 395 – 47%
Joyce Overton CRUMP — 121 – 14%
Jay Ross JARVIS — 329 – 39%
Third District Magistrate for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Bo BENNETT — 220 – 25%
Joe Brent GRIDER — 146 – 17%
Scott G. TICHENOR — 515 – 58%
Fourth District Magistrate for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Robert Dale BEAVIN — 468 – 69%
Justin B. MILLER — 215 – 31%
Fifth District Magistrate for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Christopher BASHAM — 29 – 3%
Jarod BASHAM — 85 – 8%
Renetta BRATCHER-ROMERO — 165 – 16%
James Dewayne JOHNSON — 130 – 13%
Larry Wayne MORPHEW — 290 – 28%
Melissa PALERMINO — 40 – 4%
Gerry “Rip” WRIGHT — 282 – 28%
First District Constable for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Jeff ASHBY — 340 – 54%
Joe RENFROW — 294 – 46%
Third District Constable for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Tim GRIFFIN — 518 – 62%
Jeremy S. NANCE — 323 – 38%
Fourth District Constable for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Brad KELLEMS — 384 – 57%
Jeff MATTHEWS — 287 – 43%
Fifth District Constable for Ohio County – Republican Candidate
Nathan GEARY — 634 – 68%
James GILSTRAP — 305 – 32%
State Representative – 14th District – Republican Candidate
Marty SHEPHARD — 459 – 58% – Districtwide – 2,832 – 42%
Wes PATE — 289 – 42% – Districtwide – 3,853 – 58%
United States Senator – Republican Candidate
Andy BARR — 2,219 – 61% – Statewide – 61%
Daniel CAMERON — 925 – 25% – Statewide – 31%
Michael James FARIS — 229 – 6% – Statewide – 3%
George WASHINGTON — 92 – 3% – Statewide – 2%
James D. DUNCAN — 44 – 1% – Statewide – 1%
Anissa CATLETT — 41 – 1% – Statewide – 1%
Valerie “Dr Val” FREDRICK — 38 – 1% – Statewide – 1%
A. Nick SHELLEY — 36 – 1% – Statewide – 1%
Jonathan M. HOLLIDAY — 24 – 1% – Statewide – 1%
Other Donald WENZEL — 13 – 0% – Statewide – 0%
Jimmy I. LEON — 3 – 0% – Statewide – 0%
United States Senator – Democrat Candidate
Amy McGRATH — 466 – 50% – Statewide – 39%
Charles BOOKER — 286 – 30% – Statewide – 42%
Pamela STEVENSON — 51 – 5% – Statewide – 6%
Logan FORSYTHE — 45 – 5% – Statewide – 4%
Vincent Anthony THOMPSON — 43 – 5% – Statewide – 3%
Dale Lewis ROMANS — 33 – 4% – Statewide – 2%
Joshua BLANTON SR. — 14 – 1% – Statewide – 2%
United States Representative for Congress – 2nd District – Republican Candidate
S. Brett GUTHRIE — 3,120 – 82% – Districtwide – 85%
Joshua M. FERGUSON — 471 – 12% – Districtwide – 10%
G. “Shay” PERRY-ADELMANN — 231 – 6% – Districtwide – 5%
United States Representative for Congress – 2nd District – Democrat Candidate
Megan WINGFIELD — 339 – 38% – Districtwide – 41%
Hank LINDERMAN — 296 – 33% – Districtwide – 21%
David S. HATFIELD — 136 – 15% – Districtwide – 21%
William Dakota COMPTON — 132 – 15% – Districtwide – 18%