Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.
Kentucky Supreme Court elections, 2015
|
|
One seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court was on the general election ballot on November 3, 2015. Sam Wright won the seat with 51.9 percent of the vote.
General election
Janet Stumbo faced Samuel T. Wright III in the general election.
| Kentucky Supreme Court, Seat 1, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Samuel T. Wright III | 51.9% | 40,973 |
| Janet Stumbo | 48.1% | 38,029 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 79,002 | |
| Source: Kentucky Secretary of State, "Unofficial general election results," accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
There was no regularly scheduled election for Kentucky in 2015 but an election to replace Justice Will Scott became necessary following his January resignation. Scott left the court to seek the Republican nomination for governor but failed to win the nomination.[1] With only two candidates on the ballot, there was no need for a primary election on May 19, 2015.[2]
Wright will serve the remainder of Scott's term, which expires in 2020.
Candidates for the Kentucky Supreme Court run in nonpartisan elections. Stumbo said she would resist political pressure if elected to the court. "This is too important a job to make it a political job," she said after announcing her candidacy.[3] Meanwhile, Wright highlighted his experience as a trial judge as critical for success as a supreme court judge.[3] Wright said he would "make every effort to improve and expand" the drug courts if elected.[4]
Stumbo previously served on the Supreme Court from 1993 to 2004, when Scott defeated her in her bid for re-election.[5]
On the ballot
Candidates
The following candidates filed for this election:
Stumbo previously served on the Supreme Court from her election in 1993 until her defeat in 2004. She has also served two stints on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, from 1989 to 1993 and since 2006.[7] Wright has more than 20 years of experience as a circuit judge.[3]
Kentucky Supreme Court, District 7
The Kentucky Supreme Court is divided into seven districts. The Seventh District encompasses 24 counties in western Kentucky.[8]
Process
Judges in Kentucky participate in nonpartisan elections.
All candidates participate in the primaries. If more than two candidates compete in a race, the two with the highest number of votes advance to the general election.
Qualifications
Candidates seeking election to a judicial office in Kentucky must:
- Be a United States citizen, a Kentucky resident, and a resident of the district to which they are seeking election for at least two years;
- Be licensed to practice law in the state of Kentucky; and
- Be a licensed attorney for at least eight years if seeking election to the Kentucky Supreme Court, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, or the Kentucky Circuit Courts; four years if seeking election to the Kentucky District Courts[9]
All judicial candidates must pay a filing fee of $200.[9]
Past elections
2014
| Unopposed | Judge Bill Cunningham (Kentucky) (1st District) |
|---|
| Unopposed | Judge John D. Minton, Jr. (2nd District) |
|---|
| Unopposed | Judge Lisabeth Tabor Hughes (4th District) |
|---|
6th District
| Candidate | Incumbency | Primary Vote | Election Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
Michelle Keller | Yes | 58.4% | |
| Teresa L. Cunningham | No | 41.6%  |
- See also: Kentucky judicial elections, 2014
- See also: Kentucky Supreme Court elections, 2014
| 2012 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 2010 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Incumbent Daniel Venters ran uncontested and was re-elected.
| |||||||||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Incumbents Lisabeth Tabor Hughes and Mary C. Noble were both re-elected during the 2008 races.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
State profile
| Demographic data for Kentucky | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 4,424,611 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 39,486 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 87.6% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 7.9% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 1.3% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 0.2% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 2.1% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 3.3% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 84.2% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 22.3% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $43,740 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 22.7% | 11.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Kentucky. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Presidential voting pattern
- See also: Presidential voting trends in Kentucky
Kentucky voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Kentucky, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.[10]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Kentucky had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.
More Kentucky coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Kentucky
- United States congressional delegations from Kentucky
- Public policy in Kentucky
- Endorsers in Kentucky
- Kentucky fact checks
- More...
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Kentucky supreme court election 2015. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ WKYT, "Two E. Ky. judges vie for vacant seat on state Supreme Court," January 19, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs nameddeadline - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 WKYT.com, "Two E. Ky. judges vie for vacant seat on state supreme court," January 19, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmountaineagle - ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "2004 General Election Results," November 24, 2004
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ Kentucky Court of Justice, " Judge Janet L. Stumbo," accessed June 2, 2015
- ↑ Kentucky Court of Justice, "Supreme Court of Kentucky," accessed July 30, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Candidate Qualifications and Filing Fees," accessed May 4, 2014
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
| ||||||||||
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky
State courts:
Kentucky Supreme Court • Kentucky Court of Appeals • Kentucky Circuit Courts • Kentucky District Courts • Kentucky Family Court
State resources:
Courts in Kentucky • Kentucky judicial elections • Judicial selection in Kentucky
