Gregory wins special election for 16th District State Senate seat

Sara Beth Gregory, above, during a campaign stop Saturday at the Williamsburg-Whitley County Airport.

A Republican has held onto the seat that former Kentucky Senate President David Williams vacated earlier this fall in order to accept an appointment as a circuit judge.

Rep. Sara Beth Gregory, a Monticello attorney, easily defeated her Democratic challenger, Williamsburg teacher Bill Conn, during a special election held Tuesday in the 16th senate district.

Gregory received a total of 6,244 votes in the six-county district compared to 1,440 votes for Conn, who was making his first run for political office, according to unofficial totals listed on the Secretary of State’s website.

In Whitley County, Gregory received 1,444 votes to Conn’s 768 votes.

The 16th Senate District includes Whitley, McCreary, Clinton, Cumberland, Monroe and Wayne counties.

Gregory said that she was pleased with the victory and feels that her victory margin is a resounding mandate that people in the district supported her campaign and conservative message.

"I look forward to the opportunity of serving this district in the senate. It is going to be a privilege to represent them there," she said.

Gregory said that it is too early to tell with redistricting whether she will continue to represent Whitley County after the upcoming legislative session is over or what the redistricting maps will look like in the next election cycle.

Gregory will serve out the remaining two years of Williams’ term in office.

Conn said that while he was disappointed by the outcome, he was proud that both campaigns ran a clean race with no mudslinging.

"I am so proud of the campaign that we ran. I am very proud of the way we conducted ourselves," he said. "I am very proud of the way we just talked about the issues of trying to fix our local economy and ways to solve the drug epidemic."
Conn’s said it’s too early to tell whether he will run for office again.

8.3 percent of registered voters went to the polls in Conn’s home county of Whitley County to cast their ballots in the election Tuesday.

Whitley County Clerk Kay Schwartz said that this was slightly larger than the 5-6 percent voter turnout that she was initially expecting. Schwartz said that she was glad to have Whitley County’s seventh election in a 14-month time span over and thanked her election workers for their efforts.

"Hopefully, we’ll have no more elections until 2014," she added.

The last time there was a contested special election for a senate seat in Whitley County was Dec. 27, 1994.

Republican James D. Crase defeated Democrat Paul D. Dodson by a nearly two to one margin to win the 15th Senate District seat, which was vacated by the resignation of John Rogers.

Only about 7 percent of registered Whitley County voters cast ballots in that race.