Republican State Sen. Whitney Westerfield failed in his bid to win a seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court, but after Tuesday’s general election defeat he said he’s ready for the next challenge in legislature.
“There’s still a lot of wood to chop,” said Westerfield, of Christian County.
He lost the 1st District Kentucky Supreme Court race to Court of Appeals Justice Christopher Shea Nickell by a vote of 71,699 to 53,119. Nickell had 57.4 percent of the vote, according to preliminary totals from all precincts.
Although it wasn’t enough to overcome the district total, Westerfield scored a lopsided win in Christian County with 8,959 votes to 3,555 for Nickell.
“We’re disappointed, but I’m so thankful for the support we had,” he said.
Among the challenges ahead in the legislature, state lawmakers will be writing a new budget in 2020, he noted.
And the GOP-majority House and Senate could be working with a Democratic governor.
In a race that was still too close to call early in the evening, Democrat Andy Beshear had a slim lead over incumbent Republican Matt Bevin.
By 9:30 p.m., Beshear’s edge was 5,333 votes for four-tenths of 1 percent with all precincts reporting, and several media outlets were declaring him the winner.
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.
