Primary election results: Conway to face winner of GOP recanvass after 83 votes separate Bevin and Comer
Primary election night proved to be a roller coaster for the GOP as the standings of the four way primary saw the three top candidates alternate rankings many times before the final unofficial vote total showed Louisville businessman Matt Bevin leading Agriculture Commissioner James Comer by only 83 votes. Because of the less than 100 vote gap, Comer announced Tuesday night he will call for a recanvass of the votes.
The unofficial results Tuesday night showed Bevin with 70,479 votes and 32.91% of the vote compared to Comer’s 70,396 vote total giving him 32.87% of the vote. Louisville businessman Hal Heiner ended up in the third place spot with 27% after spending much of the evening closer to the top before the votes from the central time zone numbers began to roll in. Former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott garnered 7% of the vote.
According to the secretary of state’s site, any requests for recanvassing are due to their office by 4 p.m. May 26, with recanvass to occur at 9 a.m. May 28. In his speech, Comer said he would be filing his request Wednesday.
On the Democratic side, Attorney General Jack Conway ran away with his party’s nomination as he garnered 80% of the vote over his opponent Geoff Young, a retired engineer from Lexington.
Conway’s official Republican opponent will be determined after the results of the recanvass. To see again where all the candidates stood on the issues, check the Kentucky Chamber’s voter guide.
Conway and the GOP nominee will also likely face an independent candidate as Fark.com founder Drew Curtis has declared his desire to run and is collecting the 5,000 signatures needed to appear on the ballot in November.
In the down ballot races, Andy Beshear—son of Gov. Steve Beshear—will be the Democratic candidate for attorney general and will face state Sen. Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville in the general election.
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes easily won her primary race and will face Republican Steven Knipper in November.
State Auditor Adam Edelen and Republican state Rep. Mike Harmon are the official candidates in the auditor race as neither party saw a primary for the office.
In the race to replace Comer as agriculture commissioner, state Rep. Ryan Quarles of Georgetown pulled off a close victory over state Rep. Richard Heath of Mayfield. Quarles will face Democrat Jean Marie Lawson-Spann.
In the most crowded race of the evening, Republican Allison Ball—a Prestonsburg attorney—won her primary race over state Rep. Kenny Imes and former Fayette Co. Judge-Exec. Jon Larson. On the Democratic side, state Rep. Rick Nelson pulled off a win in his five way primary.
See all the unofficial results on the secretary of state’s office website. The Kentucky Chamber will continue to follow the races here on our blog.
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