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John Hicks (Kentucky)
John Hicks (Libertarian Party) ran for election for Governor of Kentucky. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.
He is running on a joint ticket with the lieutenant gubernatorial nominee, Ann Cormican (L).
Hicks was a Libertarian candidate who sought election to the Kentucky House of Representatives to represent District 43. Hicks lost the general election on November 6, 2018.
Biography
John Hicks earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with concentrations in economics and history from Stetson University in 1968 and attended Georgia State University from 1987-89. Hicks is a Leadership Louisville graduate, class of 1982. Hicks served in the U.S. Army from 1969-70 assigned to Signal Corps, and served in Chu Lai, Vietnam. His professional experience includes working as a public school teacher, community newspaper publisher, 1976-86; and a programmer-analyst/IT consultant. His organizational affiliations include the Kentucky Open Source Society and the Libertarian Party of Louisville.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2019
General election
General election for Governor of Kentucky
Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Matt Bevin and John Hicks in the general election for Governor of Kentucky on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Andy Beshear (D) | 49.2 | 709,890 |
 | Matt Bevin (R) | 48.8 | 704,754 | |
 | John Hicks (L) | 2.0 | 28,433 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 46 | ||
| Total votes: 1,443,123 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky
Andy Beshear defeated Rocky Adkins, Adam Edelen, and Geoff M. Young in the Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Andy Beshear | 37.9 | 149,448 |
 | Rocky Adkins | 31.9 | 125,981 | |
 | Adam Edelen | 27.9 | 110,161 | |
 | Geoff M. Young | 2.3 | 8,923 | |
| Total votes: 394,513 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky
Incumbent Matt Bevin defeated Robert Goforth, William Woods, and Ike Lawrence in the Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Bevin | 52.3 | 136,069 |
 | Robert Goforth | 38.9 | 101,345 | |
 | William Woods | 5.5 | 14,440 | |
 | Ike Lawrence | 3.2 | 8,412 | |
| Total votes: 260,266 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43
Charles Booker defeated Everett Corley and John Hicks in the general election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Charles Booker (D) | 76.5 | 10,798 |
 | Everett Corley (R) | 21.3 | 3,005 | |
| John Hicks (L) | 2.3 | 319 | |
| Total votes: 14,122 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Charles Booker | 29.5 | 1,481 |
 | Pamela Stevenson | 22.0 | 1,104 | |
 | Phil Baker | 18.5 | 929 | |
| Mark Mitchell | 11.6 | 581 | ||
| Kathleen Parks | 10.1 | 507 | ||
| Jackson Andrews | 5.9 | 295 | ||
| Dre Dawson | 2.3 | 116 | ||
| Total votes: 5,013 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43
Everett Corley defeated Denise Raine in the Republican primary for Kentucky House of Representatives District 43 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Everett Corley | 50.5 | 444 |
| Denise Raine | 49.5 | 435 | ||
| Total votes: 879 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Hicks did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Hicks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hicks' responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
My three top priorities: 1. To be a legislator my constituents can be proud of by: doing my homework, being a critical thinker, engaging with my fellow legislators in discussion of current issues, and casting only informed votes. 2. To be responsive to all of my very gerrymandered, very heterogeneous district and thereby help to build a sense of greater community in Jefferson County. 3. To prepare for the upcoming 2020 census (and the redistricting that will follow) by leading a public discussion about electoral reform, specifically voting methods such as STV (single transferable vote) that would eliminate the motivation for gerrymandering as well as offer many other benefits.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Areas of public policy I'm most personally passionate about: -- Education: As a former public schoolteacher (and a former public school pupil), I know the importance of education as a basic part of everyone's development to their full potential, and I'm aware of the tremendous potential for improvement in the ways we do this. -- Louisville's West End: As a native Louisvillian and a product of Louisville's East End, I've always been concerned about the East-West racial and poverty divide in our city and the fact that it seems so set in place. I live in West Louisville now, and I'd like to work to erase that division. -- Electoral reform: Ever since my college days studying political science and history, I've been fascinated with the many electoral systems other than our default single-member-district, plurality-vote system (which is largely responsible for the polarization we see today). I'd like us to start adopting instant-runoff/ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts to achieve proportional representation in our legislatures and city councils.
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
Integrity, diligence, and intelligence, in that order.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
The two qualities that set me apart from my opponents are experience and independence. -- Experience: I have 50 years of professional experience, mostly in two careers (publishing and software development) that brought me in contact with a large variety of businesses and industries. For ten of those years, I published a community newspaper, which among many other things, gave me the valuable experience of having to meet a payroll. -- Independence: As a Libertarian running a largely self-financed campaign, I'll owe no political favors to anyone. My only obligation will be to my constituents.
What process do you favor for redistricting?
An electoral system that features multi-member districts, resulting in proportional representation, eliminates the motivation for gerrymandered districts in the first place (and offers many other benefits to boot). I favor the electoral system known as STV (single transferable vote).
If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the legislature, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?
I'm one of three Libertarians running for the Kentucky House of Representatives. So, if I'm elected, I'll very likely be part of my party's leadership team in the House. :)
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
Like many Libertarians, I am a ""Classical [pre-FDR] Liberal."" I believe in the principles of the Enlightenment, embodied in our country's founding documents, imperfectly implemented by the early Democrats, improved by the early Republicans, but now abandoned by both major parties. These principles proclaim the necessity that every individual have full agency to live a free, full, and rewarding life. In today's complex society this requires removing many systemic barriers imposed by antiquated educational and commercial institutions and taking full advantage of new technologies to empower every individual to live their life to the fullest. While in office I hope to leverage my experience as a communicator to bridge the gap between the members of the two major parties (who will no doubt dominate the legislature as usual), encouraging all to stay focused on the welfare of our constituents, particularly our young people preparing to enter the work force. I chose to run for office now (for the first time and at the ripe age of 72) because we are at a critical moment, both nationally and locally, where people are recognizing that business-as-usual is not working and that some kind of radical change is necessary. I have the right set of experience, expertise, and passion to help lead the way. Is there anything you would like to add? As a Libertarian running in a badly gerrymandered district, I give voters an opportunity to demonstrate they are fed up with our broken two-party electoral system. As an elected Representative, I will work to effect electoral reform before the next redistricting takes place, preferably implementing a system achieving Proportional Representation via ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts.[2] |
” |
| —John Hicks[1] | ||
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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