Charles wins county leadership as Reed returns as mayor 

Justin Charles will be Clark County’s new judge-exec­u­tive, and JoEllen Reed will remain Winchester’s mayor. 

Daniel Konstantopoulos will be going to Frankfort as the county’s new state representative. 

Jada Brady will return as PVA, and Frank Doyle will remain jailer. 

Jim Caldwell will be join­ing the Winchester Board of Commissioners, and Kenny Book will also return as a com­mis­sion­er after a few years away. 

Those were some of the big take­aways from the results of the Nov. 3 gen­er­al elec­tion in Clark County. 

County winners 

Charles, who four years ago beat Vaché King to become the Democratic nom­i­nee for coun­ty judge, switched par­ties and defeat­ed her again, this time in the gen­er­al elec­tion. The Republican gar­nered 8,211 votes to the Democrat’s 4,415, or about 65 to 35 percent. 

He could not be reached for com­ment Tuesday night. But on his cam­paign’s Facebook page, Charles thanked his sup­port­ers for putting their trust in him, and thanked King for run­ning her race with “noth­ing but class and integri­ty from start to finish.”

“Throughout this cam­paign, I’ve talked about doing what’s right for Clark County, being respon­si­ble with your tax dol­lars and work­ing togeth­er. I meant every word of it. We’ve got a tough road ahead, but I believe we can work togeth­er and make good deci­sions for our coun­ty,” he said.

Charles ran a cam­paign in which he said his first pri­or­i­ty would be get­ting the coun­ty government’s fis­cal house in order. 

Scott Hisle will bring some exper­tise to bear in that area. The retir­ing chief finan­cial offi­cer for the Freeman Corporation and for­mer school board mem­ber won the only con­test­ed magistrate’s race in the gen­er­al elec­tion, against Jeannie Gwynne in the 1^st District. The count was 1,702 to 1,432, or about 54 to 46 percent. 

The oth­er new mag­is­trates — Bryan Howard in the 2^nd, Benjamin Moberly in the 3^rd, and Michael H. Flynn in the 5^th — all won their seats in the Republican pri­ma­ry in May and faced no oppo­si­tion in the gen­er­al elec­tion. They will join the two incum­bents, Mark Darryl Miller in the 4^th and Robert Blanton, the lone Democrat, in the 6^th. 

In a rematch, Republican Jada Brady defeat­ed Jason Neely by a wider mar­gin than last time, when she beat the then Democratic incum­bent by eight votes in 2022. This time she won by 665 votes, 6,712 to 6,047. 

Jailer Frank “Squatty” Doyle, one of the few Democratic incum­bents, eas­i­ly won re-elec­tion against Republican Chris Grant, 7,631 to 4,987.  

County Attorney William Elkins, Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr., and Coroner Neal Oliver, all Republicans, were re-elect­ed with­out chal­lenges, as was County Clerk Michelle Turner, a Democrat. 

The con­sta­ble can­di­dates were also unop­posed. They are Republicans Travis Jay McIntosh, District 2; Shelby Lynn Toler II, District 3; and William Frank Kennon, District 6; as well as two write-in can­di­dates, Gerald Tackett, District 4; and David Puckett, District 5. No one ran in District 1. 

State representative 

Republican Daniel Konstantopoulos of Winchester, a Clark County mag­is­trate, beat Democrat Chelsea Kirk of Lexington to claim the 73^rd District seat in the state House of Representatives, 8,584 to 7,196. 

In Clark County, the tal­ly was 7,266 to 5,414. Kirk won the part of the dis­trict that is in Fayette County, 1,782 to 1,318. 

“I am hum­bled that the vot­ers chose to send me to Frankfort,” Konstantopoulos said, adding that he would do his best to serve them. 

“I want to com­mend Chelsea Kirk on run­ning a hard-fought race, and I wish the best for her,” he said. 

Konstantopoulos will join state Sen. Greg Elkins of Winchester, a fel­low Republican and for­mer mag­is­trate, who was re-elect­ed in the 28^th Senate District with­out opposition. 

Mayor re-elected 

Mayor JoEllen Reed won a sec­ond term in a tough race against Dr. Perry Williams. Reed got 2,564 votes com­pared to 1,966 for Williams, or near­ly 57 per­cent of the total to his 43. 

“This is the tough­est chal­lenge I’ve had thus far. Perry ran a good race, and we’ll still remain friends as we always have been,” she said after hear­ing the tal­lies announced at the courthouse. 

“I am hum­bled and hon­ored that the peo­ple felt I did a good enough job to do it again. One more time,” she remarked. 

Kenny Book, who served near­ly three decades on the com­mis­sion before com­ing in fifth in 2024, was among the four win­ners this time with 1,363 votes. 

“I’m bring­ing 28 years of expe­ri­ence, and we’re going to fix some things that need to be done,” Book said. 

Jim Caldwell, a for­mer tele­vi­sion news mete­o­rol­o­gist, led the city com­mis­sion race with 2,858 votes.

Kitty Strode, a long­time city com­mis­sion­er, was sec­ond with 2,278, fol­lowed by anoth­er incum­bent, Joe Chenault, with 1,798.  

The can­di­dates who didn’t make the top four in the at-large, non­par­ti­san race were James Bowman with 1,222, Tara Asbury with 1,152, and Ralph Harrison with 826. 

Hannah Toole, the new tourism direc­tor, received 1,269 votes that did not count in the con­test. She resigned from the city com­mis­sion too late for her name to be removed from the ballot.

Dorsey re-elected 

Ben Dorsey, who rep­re­sents District 4 on the Clark County Board of Education, was re-elect­ed despite being under indict­ment for felony theft. His only chal­lengers were two write-in can­di­dates, Valerie Frost and Katie Brashear Jones. 

Dorsey got 726 votes, more than 78 per­cent of the total. Jones received 150 votes and Frost 52. 

New appellate judge 

Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy Ferguson VanMeter defeat­ed Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Will Moynahan, who had been appoint­ed by Gov. Andy Beshear to fill a vacan­cy. She will now rep­re­sent the 5^th Appellate District, which includes Clark County, where her hus­band, retired Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter, grew up. 

In Clark County, VanMeter got 6,925 votes to Moynahan’s 2,853, near­ly 71 percent. 

Chief District Judge Tyler S. Frazier of Richmond was re-elect­ed to Division 1 in the 25^th Judicial District, which includes Madison and Clark counties. 

In Clark County, Frazier received 5,767 votes, while his oppo­nent, Darrian D. Botts, a Winchester attor­ney who is also from Richmond, received 2,920.

In Madison County, Frazier got 16,566 com­pared to 6,190. 

The total for the dis­trict was 22,333 for Frazier, 9,110 for Botts. 

Judge Robert Jennings was re-elect­ed in Division 2 and Judge Earl-Ray Neal in Division 3 with­out opposition. 

Democrat wins 6^th 

Democrats flipped the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday, and Zach Dembo of Lexington, a for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor, will be part of the new majority. 

Dembo defeat­ed Republican Dr. Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, a for­mer state sen­a­tor, by near­ly 25,000 votes in the 6^th U.S. House District. In Clark County, the tal­ly didn’t mir­ror results for the dis­trict as a whole. Here, Alvarado got 6,984 votes to Dembo’s 5,308. 

Republican Andy Barr, who has held the 6^th District seat since win­ning it in 2012, won the U.S. Senate race to suc­ceed retir­ing Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the for­mer major­i­ty leader. However, he will be in the minor­i­ty as Democrats regained con­trol of the Senate.

Barr gar­nered 55 per­cent of the vote to beat Democrat Charles Booker of Louisville, a for­mer state representative. 

In Clark County, the count was 7,598 for Barr, 5,005 for Booker. 

County votes ‘yes’ 

The pro­posed Amendment 1 to the Kentucky Constitution was eas­i­ly approved statewide. It will pro­hib­it a gov­er­nor from issu­ing any par­dons or com­mut­ing any sen­tences 60 days pri­or to a guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tion or right after the election. 

In Clark County, the yes vote was 8,464 to lim­it the governor’s par­don pow­er and the no vote was 2,796.