Branham to defend office in Nov.

Published 8:25 am Wednesday, May 23, 2018

It became evident early Tuesday evening who the candidates for judge-executive would be this fall.

Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham and Republican challenger Chris Pace both easily won their primary races Tuesday with 68.14 and 68.59 percent of votes in their races, respectively.

“I’m humbled,” Branham said Tuesday evening. “I felt we ran a good race. We always run positive.”

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Branham’s challenge came from former deputy judge-executive Liz Elswick, while Pace’s was from engineer Sam Williams.

In the Democratic primary, Branham won 3,084 to 1,442 while Pace took the GOP race 1,871 to 857.

Branham, who is in his third term as judge-executive, said there was a sense of relief following Tuesday’s win.

“We’re very pleased with the campaign,” he said.

Following the tabulation of votes, Branham said he and Elswick congratulated each other for a “spirited but clean” campaign.

Pace won every precinct to score his 1,871 votes Tuesday, which was something he did not expect.

“Certainly I didn’t expect to win every precinct,” Pace said. “I think the people in this community are ready for a change. I want to congratulate both of the Democratic candidates. I think they ran good, solid campaigns.”

Both will turn their focus to the general election in November, following a brief respite from the campaign trail.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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