Incumbents make strong showing in Urban County Council district races
Incumbents on Lexington’s Urban County Council generally fared well in Tuesday’s election, but one found himself on the losing end of a close race.
The 2nd District race between Josh McCurn and incumbent Joseph Smith was tight, but McCurn won.
Sandy Shafer, who represented the Urban County Council’s 11th District for 13 years and was trying for a political comeback, lost her race against political newcomer Jennifer Reynolds.
In the 5th District, incumbent Bill Farmer defeated a hearty challenge from Liz Sheehan.
Elsewhere, incumbents had more breathing room.
In the 1st District, incumbent James Brown won easily over challenger Anita Franklin. Brown was appointed by Mayor Jim Gray in 2015 and later won the seat in a special election.
Jake Gibbs retained his seat in the 3rd District over challenger Renee Shepard. Gibbs has lived in the area since moving to Lexington in 1978, and Shepard headed the Downtown Lexington Corporation.
Susan Lamb, who had been a council administrator before being elected to the council itself in the 4th District in 2014, kept her seat, winning over challenger Barry Saturday.
Incumbent Angela Evans defeated, Gabriel Wilburn, in the 6th district.
Challenger Christian Motley, who was kicked off the ballot in a challenge about the number of valid signatures he had to get on the ballot, was not able to unseat incumbent Fred Bown in the 8th District. The Kentucky secretary of state’s Web site gave Brown 3,398 votes, a 100 percent total, with 22 of 24 precincts reporting.
Council veteran Jennifer Mossotti scored an easy victory over challenger Jacob Glancy in the 9th District. Incumbent Kathy Plomin won her race, beating Monteia Mundy Owenby in the 12th District.
In the 7th District, Preston Worley, who was appointed to the seat when Melissa Scutchfield left to take a job with the state, won his race against Chris Logan.
All but one district council member, the 10th District’s Amanda Bledsoe, ran with opposition this year.
District 1
James Brown 4,121
Anita Rowe Franklin 1,793
District 2
Josh McCurn 3,455
Joseph Smith 3,254
District 3
J. “Jake” Gibbs 3,071
Renee Jackson Shepard 1,773
District 4
Susan Lamb 5,588
Barry Saturday 2,584
District 5
Bill Farmer Jr. 5,623
Liz Sheehan 4,865
District 6
Angela Evans 5,655
Gabriel Wilburn 2,239
District 7
Chris Logan 3,724
Preston Worley 4,875
District 9
Jacob Glancy 3,419
Jennifer Mossotti 7,174
District 11
Jennifer Reynolds 3,001
Sandy Shafer 2,748
District 12
Monteia Mundy Owenby 3,029
Kathy Plomin 5,724
This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 9:08 PM.