Beshear wins in landslide over Williams; Republican wins ag commissioner race
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, 9:45 p.m. — Steve Beshear will return to Frankfort for a second four-year term as Kentucky governor after decisively winning a three-way race against Republican state senate President David Williams and independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith.
With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, the Beshear-Abramson ticket was leading with 55.96 percent of the statewide vote over Williams-Farmer’s 34.99 percent and Galbraith-Riley’s 9.03 percent.
In Nelson County, Beshear won 62 percent of the vote to Williams’ 31.3 percent and Galbraith’s 6.5 percent.
Clockwise from lower left: Adam Edelen; Alison Lundergan Grimes; Jack Conway, Todd Hollenbach.
NELSON TURNOUT HIGHER. Nelson County’s voter turnout was 30.3 percent – a figure just above the state turnout figure at press time of 28.2 percent.
In the counties surrounding Nelson, turnout was about the same and even higher: Bullitt, 27 percent; Hardin, 28.1 percent; LaRue, 30.9 percent; Marion, 32.5 percent; Anderson, 38.3 percent; and Spencer, 33.9.
The highest voter turnout was recorded in Franklin County, with 51.2 percent. Woodford County had the second-highest voter turnout with 40.3 percent, and Cumberland County – in south central Kentucky, was third in turnout with 40.1 percent.
The lowest turnout recorded by a county at press time was Martin County, with 15 percent voter turnout.
DOWN-TICKET ELECTION RESULTS. The statewide races mirrored the election results of Tuesday’s voting in Nelson County:
SECRETARY OF STATE: Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) over Bill Johnson (R ), 68.7 percent to 31.3 percent.
ATTORNEY GENERAL. Incumbent Democrat Jack Conway won big in his bid to remain the state’s attorney general, beating Republican Todd P’Pool by earning 62.7 percent of the vote compared to P’Pool’s 37.3 percent.
JAMES COMER
AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Democrat Adam Edelen had no trouble dispatching Republican John T. Kemper III. Kemper’s personal and business financial troubles proved to be a stumbling block to his campaign and was topic of TV ads in support of Edelen. Edelen won 63.8 percent of the vote in Nelson County compared to Kemper’s 36.2.
STATE TREASURER. For a short period of time in the early returns, Republican K.C. Crosbie was leading incumbent Democrat Todd Hollenbach and Libertarian Kenneth Moellman Jr. Hollenbach won the county, 48.9 to 46.3 percent. Moellman received 4.7 percent of the Nelson vote.
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. Democrat Bob Farmer’s campaign was gravely wounded when videos of his comedy routines showed up on YouTube and in campaign ads. State Rep. Jamie Comer of Tompkinsville capitalized on the fact he was truly the only farmer in the race. Comer won Nelson County – a Democratic County – with 63.7 percent of the vote to Farmer’s 36.3 percent.
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