By Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern · May 20, 2026

A swath of incumbent county judge-executives lost their primary elections, some by wide margins, failing to secure their political party’s nomination Tuesday in counties both large and small stretching across Kentucky. 

In all, 18 incumbent judge-executives lost in primary elections in both Democratic and Republican primaries: Adair, Bell, Boone, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Calloway, Campbell, Estill, Fulton, Green, Henderson, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Madison, Monroe and Morgan counties. 

Kentuckians voted for local elected officials in primary elections alongside other expensive and contentious races in the 4th Congressional District in Northern Kentucky and the U.S. Senate race to fill U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat. Those local primary elections delivered a number of upsets in races for county judge-executive, the highest elected office at the county level. 

Tres Watson, a former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky, told the Lantern he believed the number of incumbent judge-executives who lost “feels like a lot” and includes some high-profile and long-serving judge-executives. 

Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore had served in his position since 1999 ahead of his primary loss to Boone County Commissioner Chet Hand. Republican Bell County Judge-Executive Albey Brock had served since 2007 before losing in the GOP primary by a wide margin to Rick Nelson, who served as a Democrat in the state legislature for nearly two decades. 

Watson said the losses could be due to a number of factors, ranging from specific local issues in each county; the “shelf life” expiring on of a longer-serving judge-executive and people wanting change; pushback over budgetary challenges and taxation; and local debates over land use for data centers and renewable energy. 

“I can’t remember this many high-profile judges going down in one year,” Watson told the Lantern. “It feels different than it has in past years.”

The state’s 120 county judge-executives — along with other county officials including magistrates that serve on a county fiscal court and county attorneys — are elected to four-year terms with the latest election cycle taking place this year. Judge-executives have broad power to oversee the finances and administration of the county government, appoint people to local boards and preside over the county fiscal court, the governing board of the county. 

An email and phone message left at the offices for leadership at the Kentucky County Judge/Executive Association were not immediately returned Tuesday. 

A few of the incumbents were defeated by wide margins, finishing in third place behind two other candidates. Republican Estill County Judge-Executive Donnie Watson — who served as the county’s top elected officials in the 1980s, 1990s and since 2019 — finished in third with 16% of the vote in his GOP primary, according to unofficial results. 

Donnie Watson was defeated by Kelby Browning, the proprietor of a local barbershop, who won 51% of the 2,588 votes cast in the race. 

In Henderson County, the upset victory over the incumbent was much closer. Republican Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider, who’s served since 2016, lost by 47 votes to Timmy Dunn, a local country music artist and a businessman who was a newcomer to politics.

Dunn did not response to an emailed interview request Tuesday from the Lantern. Dunn told the Hendersonian that people “wanted to be heard” and not be “treated as lesser or smaller”, and he previously told the news outlet that how the county has handled an influx renewable energy development pushed him into the race. Schneider had told the news outlet he believed Dunn to be ““vastly underqualified for the position.”

The local planning and zoning commission in Henderson County has debated new land-use rules for wind turbines as a wind energy developer eyes locating into the county. The county also approved a 170-megawatt utility-scale solar installation years ago. 

An office assistant for Schneider referred the Lantern to a statement on Facebook where Schneider said he would “root for the new Judge-Executive’s success, because his success is also the county’s.” 

Dwight Williams, the chair of the Henderson County Republican Party, said he was still trying to make sense of the voting patterns in the county and reasons that voters had that led to the upset, saying that Dunn was a “young guy” that was relatively new to local Republican politics. 

“Sometimes people just want to change, you know what I mean?” Williams said. “You go through that where all the incumbents lose because people want to change.” 

Counties where incumbents lost (incumbents underlined with vote totals and vote share): 

Adair County — 

GOP Primary:

Chris REEDER REP 1,852 40%

Gale B. COWAN REP 1,802 39%

Larry Russell BRYANT REP 1,007 22%

Bell County — 

GOP Primary:

Rick NELSON REP 3,291 68%

Al “Albey” BROCK REP 1,524 32%

Boone County — 

GOP Primary:

Chet HAND REP 10,264 52%

Gary W. MOORE REP 9,321 48%

Breathitt County — 

Democratic Primary:

Hargis EPPERSON DEM 1,796 50%

Jeff NOBLE DEM 1,455 41%

Vicie PELFREY DEM 325 9% 

Breckinridge County — 

GOP Primary:

Shane BEAVIN REP 1,627 39%

Maurice D. LUCAS REP 1,360 32%

Kevin Bruce DRANE REP 998 24%

Jesse Stephen CLARK REP 200 5%

Calloway County — 

GOP Primary:

Paul W. RISTER REP 1,862 61%

Kenny IMES REP 1,166 39%

Campbell County —

GOP Primary:

Andrew “Andy” SCHABELL REP 6,008 51%

Steve PENDERY REP 5,825 49%

Estill County —

GOP Primary:

Kelby BROWNING REP 1,324 51%

Kevin T. WILLIAMS REP 861 33%

Donnie WATSON REP 403 16%

Fulton County —

Democratic Primary:

Christopher Wade ADAMS DEM 367 54%

James “Jim” MARTIN DEM 312 46%

Green County —

GOP Primary:

James Daren BONTA REP 1,499 54%

John H. FRANK REP 1,282 46%

Henderson County —

GOP Primary:

Timothy R. DUNN REP 1,465 47%

Brad SCHNEIDER REP 1,418 46%

Randall GREEN REP 219 7%

Knox County —

GOP Primary:

Jeff KETCHAM REP 4,487 68%

Mike MITCHELL REP 2,134 32%

Laurel County —

GOP Primary:

Walter T. HULETT REP 5,562 45%

David WESTERFIELD REP 5,385 44%

William N. EVERSOLE REP 762 6%

Tina CARNES REP 575 5%

Lawrence County —

GOP Primary:

Rick BLACKBURN REP 983 39%

Phillip L. CARTER REP 917 36%

Eddie PRESTON REP 623 24%

William SPRADLIN REP 28 1%

Lee County — 

GOP Primary:

Remington “Remi” CAPPS REP 773 45%

Steve MAYS REP 660 38%

Kevin PHILLIPS REP 286 17%

Madison County —

GOP Primary:

Donna AGEE REP 4,566 47%

Reagan TAYLOR REP 3,686 38%

Charles (Chuck) GIVENS REP 1,470 15%

Monroe County —

GOP Primary:

Jamie VEACH REP 2,027 51%

Mitchell PAGE REP 756 19%

Ricky J. BARTLEY REP 621 16%

Cody EMBERTON REP 382 10%

Daniel GETTINGS REP 215 5%

Morgan County —

GOP Primary:

Kenneth Kelly BOWMAN REP 442 38%

James David GREEN REP 379 33%

Jimmie GAZAY REP 334 29%