Lawsuit seeks to remove candidate from ballot in heated Lexington statehouse race
A state House candidate in Lexington fails to meet residency requirements and should be disqualified from the race, a lawsuit filed Thursday in Fayette County alleges in a contest that has been overshadowed by a DUI charge.
The 23-page suit, filed Thursday in Fayette Circuit Court by Lexington Realtor Alicia Huff, calls for Aaron Yates to be disqualified from his June 23 Republican primary election for the 88th House District against attorney Monteia Mundy.
The race has drawn publicity because of a DUI charge earlier this year against Mundy. She pleaded guilty to it and publicly apologized but Yates said it shows a character flaw in her that should keep her out of the House.
Mundy said Thursday night she knows nothing about the lawsuit but did say she knows Huff is a Realtor because her mother, Karen Mundy, works in real estate.
Mundy was arrested the night of April 25 in Madison County and charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to wear a seat belt. She later pleaded guilty to the DUI and the other two charges were dismissed. She said she had taken medication earlier that day, apologized, and asked for forgiveness.
Yates, who runs a consulting company, said Mundy should have withdrawn from the race because of the arrest and believes Mundy is behind the lawsuit. He called it “frivolous.” His attorney, Chris Wiest, said in a Facebook post that Yates meets residency requirements because he has lived in Kentucky his entire life and paid taxes in the state for at least the last decade.
Huff’s attorney, Steven J. Megerle of Covington, said he disagrees and will show in court that Yates should be disqualified. He has asked for an expedited hearing on the case since the primary election to select party nominees for the November general election is June 23.
Megerle also said Mundy was not involved in the lawsuit. “I am a lifelong Republican,” he said. “It’s fair to say that Ms. Huff and myself want to make sure there is a qualified Republican in the race.”
In the lawsuit, Huff, who is a registered voter in the 88th House District, claims Yates does not meet the constitutional requirements of residing in the district for a year and in the state for two years prior to the general election, which will be held Nov. 3.
The suit contends that Yates was a resident of Colorado from 2018 until Jan. 14, 2020, as an employee of Colorado Liberty PAC, a political action committee focusing on electing candidates.
Attached to the suit is a photo of a Colorado residence where Huff maintains Yates lived and documents she said contain Yates’ Colorado address on them.
It also said Yates did not register to vote in the House district in Fayette County until last Dec. 9, less than one year before this year’s general election and he signed a lease for a Lexington apartment on Jan. 20, 2020.
The suit asks the court to disqualify Yates as a candidate and strike his name from the Republican primary ballot.
Kentucky’s 88th House District lies in the southeastern part of Fayette County. It is now represented by Democrat Cherlynn Stevenson, a non-profit event planner. She is unopposed in the June 23 Democratic primary election. Registered Republicans hold a slight edge in the district — 20,976 Republicans to 20,090 Democrats.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 11:51 AM.
