Mayoral races, school initiatives decided in region
Published 6:00 am Thursday, November 5, 2026
Voters cast their ballots inside Sugar Maple Square on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
(JACK DOBBS / Daily News)
Election Day saw voters throughout southcentral Kentucky make crucial decisions about their communities.
In Simpson County, Kelly Bush won his campaign for Franklin mayor by 58 votes.
A member of the Franklin City Commission, Bush earned 1,129 votes Tuesday on his way toward a victory over fellow city commissioner Wendell Stewart, who received 1,071 votes.
Doug Thompson finished in third place with 506 votes.
In Barren County, voters in Glasgow opted to keep Henry Royse as mayor, with Royse earning 2,570 votes in a decisive victory over Bob Miller, who gained 511 votes.
Cave City voters elected a new mayor on Tuesday, with Clifton Parsley, a member of the Cave City City Council, receiving 286 votes against incumbent mayor Dwayne Hatcher, who finished with 207 votes.
Email newsletter signup
In Allen County, voters re-elected Scottsville Mayor David Burch, who received 620 votes against his opponent, Heather Patrick-Gatewood, who finished with 266 votes.
Hart County had the two closest elections in the region.
The election for mayor of Horse Cave was decided by a single vote, with John Buckingham defeating incumbent mayor Randall Curry, 281-280.
Hart County Judge-Executive Joe Choate won another term by 11 votes.
Choate, a Democrat, received 2,566 votes against Republican Asa Waggoner, who garnered 2,555 votes.
Incumbents in Logan County successfully gained another term in office.
Logan County Judge-Executive Phillip Baker won re-election Tuesday, with the Republican receiving 4,837 votes against his Democratic opponent, Scottie Harper, who finished with 3,723 votes.
Logan County Sheriff Stephen Stratton, a Democrat, earned 4,677 votes on his way to re-election against Republican candidate Richard Dewayne Whittaker, who got 3,862 votes.
Two tax proposals that would have funded school facilities improvements were rejected at the polls.
In Butler County, voters turned down a proposal that would have imposed a 6.3-cent tax on real estate and personal property, increasing the rate from 42.7 cents to 49 cents per $100 of assessed value, with proceeds helping to fund repairs to school facilities and new buses.
The measure was voted down, 2,232 to 1,598.
A similar measure in Logan County went down in defeat.
There, voters were presented with a proposal that, if approved, would have authorized a 5.9-cent levy for every $100 of assessed value of real and personal property, with the funds supporting construction, repairs and maintenance of facilities in the Logan County School District.
A total of 4,704 people voted against the proposal, compared to 2,164 votes in support.
