Hopkinsville’s interim mayor, Democrat Wendell Lynch, won his bid to remain in office for at least two more years with a large margin of victory over Republican challenger James R. Knight Jr.
With all of the city’s early and Election Day ballots counted for in-person voting, along with most of the absentee ballots, Lynch won the race 6,848 to 5,281, according to unofficial results posted by the county clerk’s office.
Polls closed at 6 p.m. and the race was decided by 8:30 p.m.
Lynch, a retired bank executive, will serve out the unexpired term of Carter Hendricks, a Republican who left office in January to become executive director of the South Western Economic Development Council. Lynch, at that time the Ward 6 representative on city council, was appointed interim mayor by his fellow council members.
His win makes Lynch the first Black resident to be selected mayor of Hopkinsville in an election.
Knight, who co-owns James Knight Appliance, was making his first run for political office.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
