If the unofficial vote tabulations from Tuesday’s primary election hold true, regardless of the November general election, Clinton County will have several different public officials when 2015 rolls around.

After Tuesday’s primary election vote totals were tabulated in Clinton County Clerk Shelia Booher’s office, at least four incumbent candidates had been defeated, including the incumbent County Judge/Executive.

Republican challenger Richard Armstrong had won his party’s nomination with the initial vote tabulations, picking up 1,217 votes to defeat current Judge/Executive Lyle K. Huff who finished Tuesday’s primary with 1,146 votes, some 71 votes behind Armstrong.

This was Armstrong’s first attempt at running a political campaign.

Armstrong will take his Republican nomination into the November general election where he will face the Democrat nominee, Charlene King, a former County Judge/Executive who previously served two terms in that office.

King defeated two opponents in her Democratic primary race, picking up 330 votes to win over Mark Thrasher who finished Tuesday’s voting with 197 races in his first political campaign.

George Keith Byrd finished third in that primary race with 53 votes.

Armstrong won the Republicn primary by winning eight of the county’s 13 precincts, as well as besting Huff in absentee voting.

King won her party’s nomination by winning all but one county precinct over Thrasher and Byrd. Thrasher carried one precinct Tuesday, that being Seventy-Six.

Also losing Tuesday’s primary race was incumbent Clinton County Sheriff Ricky Riddle, who lost the Republican nomination to former Deputy Sheriff and current Albany City Police Officer Jim Guffey.

Guffey picked up 1,554 votes Tuesday to best Riddle in the primary with a total of 1,423 votes for a 131 vote Guffey margin.

Guffey will take his party’s nomination into the November general election where he will face Democrat Raymond Shelton, a former Clinton County Sheriff who was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary election.

Another elected official who was defeated Tuesday in the primary election was 1st District Clinton County Magistrate Phillip Parrigin, who was defeated by Johnny Russell.

Russell finished Tuesday’s voting with 337 votes across that district’s two voting precincts, while Parrigin finished with 245 total votes.

With Tuesday’s win, Russell will take the 1st District Magisterial seat as he has no Democratic opposition in the November election.

Another Clinton County office that will certainly see a new face in 2015 is that of Jailer with incumbent and long-time holder of that office, Gene Ferrill, choosing to not seek re-election for this term.

Johnny Thrasher finished Tuesday’s balloting out in front of a seven candidate field to earn the Republican nomination for that office.

Thrasher finished Tuesday’s race with a total of 1,067 votes. Tracy Thurman finished second with 670 votes, followed by Clyde Stearns (589), Joe Stockton (484), Rayborn Starns (446), Tim Koger (180) and John Dee Beaty (121).

Thrasher will face Democrat Keith Dalton in this fall’s general election, as Dalton had no opposition in Tuesday’s primary election.

Another new face that Clinton County will be seeing next term will be that of Max Wise of Campbellsville, who earned the Republican nomination for the Kentucky State Senate in the 16th District that includes Clinton County.

Wise defeated incumbent State Senator Sarah Beth Gregory , both in voting here in Clinton County, as well as across the entire 16th Senate District.

Wise carried the 16th Senatorial District handily in Tuesday’s voting. With five of the district’s seven counties reported at press deadline Tuesday night, the Kentucky Board of elections had Wise with a roughly 4,000 vote lead over Gregory, 12, 108 to 8,129 votes.

In other Clinton County races that saw incumbent candidates win Tuesday’s primary vote, Clinton County Clerk Shelia Braswell Booher, who was appointed to the office after former long-time clerk Jim Elmore stepped down, earned the Republican nomination for that office.

Booher defeated challenger Vic Upchurch in that race, winning all 13 precincts as well as the absentee vote totals to finish Tuesday with 2,887 votes to Upchurch’s 763 votes.

Booher will take her Republican nomination into this fall’s general election where she will face Democrat Dan Thomas, who faced no opposition in Tuesday’s primary.

In other Clinton County races Tuesday, incumbent 2nd District Magistrate Patty Guinn earned the Republican nomination by defeating former magistrate Billy K. Smith 346 to 248.

Guinn will face Democrat Matthew Smith who earned that party’s nomination Tuesday by defeating Billy Catron 41 to 23 in the only magisterial race that saw two Democrats facing off on Tuesday’s ballot.

Terry Buster will again fill the 3rd District Magistrate’s seat for the next term, winning the Republican nomination over Dale Mason with 469 votes to 224 votes. No Democrat filed for election to that seat.

In the 4th District, incumbent Ricky Craig picked up 323 votes in a four man race, defeating Gary Ferguson (192), Johnny W. Shelton (81) and Ricky R. Smith (59).

Craig also earned a return trip to the Clinton County Fiscal Court as he faces no Democrat in this fall’s general election.

Also in Tuesday’s voting, incumbent Mickey Riddle earned the Republican nomination in the 6th District race for magistrate, picking up 182 votes for a close win over two opponents, Josh Bowlin (170) and David Harris (152).

Again, no candidate from the Democrat party is seeking the seat, meaning Riddle will retain his seat on the court.

Also returning to the fiscal court will be 5th District magistrate Hershell Key, who had no opponents in Tuesday’s Republican primary, and also faces no opposition from the Democrat party this fall.

In the six races for Clinton County Constable, only three Republican races appeared on Tuesday’s ballot, with Andy Butler defeating James Adkins in the 1st District, 311 to 225.

Butler faces no opposition in the fall.

In the District 2 race for Constable, incumbent Republican David (Sidewinder) Cross will retain that office with no opposition from the Democrat party this fall.

In the District 3 Constable’s race, Republican Rick Stearns will face Democrat Gary Rex Guffey this fall, as neither of those candidates had opposition in Tuesday’s primary election.

Ronnie Thrasher, an incumbent Republican constable in the 4th District, defeated challenger Steve Bridgeman 453 to 102. Thrasher is unopposed this fall.

In District 5, Jerry Craig won the Republican primary for constable with 363 votes to Gary York’s 143 votes and again, there is no Democrat candidate this fall.

Finally, in the District 6 race for constable, Republican Gilbert Daniels, who was unopposed Tuesday, will also be unopposed this fall.

Also appearing on Tuesday’s ballot were two additional races of extreme importance for both Kentucky and the nation, that being of course the two primary races for Kentucky U.S. Senator.

In the Republican race, incumbent Mitch McConnell earned a nod from both Clinton County (2,084 votes) as well as across the state, over front-runner challenger Matt Bevin (865 Clinton County votes).

McConnell will face Democrat challenger Allison Lundergran Grimes (308 Clinton County votes) who handily won her party’s nomination in Kentucky voting Tuesday.

That result will set up what will likely be one of the hottest and perhaps the most vicious fall race that Kentucky politics has seen in many years.

Readers are reminded that vote totals noted in this article, as well as those in the accompanying table, as unofficial, and will remain unofficial until the vote totals are certified by the Clinton County Election Commission.

Tuesday’s primary election saw about 56 percent of Clinton County’s 7,557 registered voters turn out to cast their votes on what turned out to be a beautiful day weather-wise.

That total included an estimated 69 percent of Clinton County’s Republican voters finding their way to the polls Tuesday, while 43 percent of the registered Democrats here taking the time to vote.

Election tabulator Dallas Sidwell, foreground, concentrated on the job at hand Tuesday night as primary election results were being announced while a large crowd of candidates, supporters and interested Clinton County voters listened to vote total results.

Keifer Dalton tried his hand as a first time election tabulator during Tuesday’s Primary Election. Dalton, along with several others, were the official tabulators for the election, taking down each precinct totals as they came in.

Former County Clerk Jim Elmore read Tuesday’s results as incumbent Shelia Booher assisted with the printouts from each precinct. WANY’s Sid Scott was also on hand to read the results over the air.

Election Table 05-22