High-stakes judicial race in Frankfort draws big money, statewide interest
A Kentucky county of just over 51,541 people hosts a judicial race that has attracted more than $370,000 in campaign donations – and the election is more than six months away.
A Franklin Circuit judge seat up in 2022 routinely makes a major impact on statewide policy, and its race got a significant financial bump according to the latest Kentucky Registry for Election Finance (KREF) numbers. Both incumbent Franklin Circuit Chief Judge Phillip Shepherd and challenger Joe Bilby have built up impressive war chests for electoral contests that are more than half a year ahead of them.
After trailing Bilby, Shepherd hit a Spring surge raising more than $226,000 in the last quarter. He’s raised $100,000 more than any politician running for state-level office, even ones facing primaries in a month, thus far.
Bilby has raised a total of $121,000 during his campaign, still touting more than $107,000 in cash on hand as of this week according to KREF. Shepherd, meanwhile, has about $222,000 in the tank.
As chief circuit judge of Frankfort, the judicial venue naturally oversees many cases dealing with challenges to legislation and executive actions as well as other state government matters.
Their race features more campaign money than any other race in the state except for Lexington and Louisville mayor, two contests that have contested May primaries. Events for both candidates have also attracted notable guest lists.
Bilby – a Marine Corps veteran and avowed “constitutional conservative” who currently serves as General Counsel for Republican Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles – has the backing of Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester. Stivers and his wife co-hosted a fundraiser in Frankfort for the judicial hopeful during the legislative session.
Stivers, R-Manchester, has lamented that Shepherd’s court is “automatically slanted” against Republicans. Some in the Shepherd camp, as well as a Courier-Journal columnist, have pushed back against that framing by pointing out that Shepherd often rules in favor of Republicans.
Shepherd has the backing of former top Democratic state officials, including a former governor in Brereton Jones, multiple lieutenant governors and the former executive director of the Kentucky Democratic Party. The sitting judge has strong local support as well. In the last quarter, more than 300 of Shepherd’s 512 contributions came from Frankfort donors.
41 of Bilby’s 170 public donors have Frankfort addresses listed. His contributions include a $2,000 boost from Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Bluegrass Committee political action committee (PAC) and other Republican-leaning PACs.
Shepherd and Bilby’s contest is not the only 2022 judicial race with statewide policy implications. There are also three supreme court races, including one in Northern Kentucky that pits a prominent Republican legislator against a former Gov. Steve Beshear appointee.
Judicial race ethics
Earlier this month, the Judicial Ethics Committee released an opinion responding to questions it received from a judicial candidate about the ethics of running a nonpartisan judicial race in a partisan political atmosphere.
Judge candidates can take PAC contributions, but may not solicit or advertise endorsements from elected partisan officials. They also cannot include symbols closely associated with political parties, like an elephant or a donkey, in their campaign materials, but they can state their party membership.
Kentucky’s judicial candidates, per the ethics committee, may not “render hollow” the state’s nonpartisan judicial elections, though the definition is somewhat unclear.
Further, a judicial candidate may announce their views on various legal and political issues so long as the candidate does not commit to rule in a particular way should the question come before them in court.
Northern Kentucky’s Supreme Court seat
A hot race in Northern Kentucky is brewing for that region’s member of the Kentucky Supreme Court. Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Michelle Keller is facing off against Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Ft. Thomas.
Keller was originally an appointee to the court by former Democratic governor Steve Beshear, Gov. Andy Beshear’s father, upon the retirement of former justice Wil Schroder. She later won an eight-year term on the court in 2014.
Thus far, the justice has raised more than $72,000 and had $42,648 left in cash as of this week. Fischer had raised nearly $18,000 and conserved much of it during the same timeframe.
After years of prominence in the Republican-controlled House, many of them while the GOP was in the minority, Fischer is hoping to switch to the judicial branch.
As a legislator, Fischer has been notably anti-abortion, sponsoring 16 pieces of legislation related to the procedure. He’s also carried the torch for other conservative social issues of the day such as the battle against the perceived teaching of Critical Race Theory, backing a couple bills this session that died – one of which would have banned the teaching of “critical social justice” in schools. He’s also successfully challenged Democrat-drawn redistricting maps more than once.
More than 20 current GOP legislators have donated to Fischer, who’s largely been working in Frankfort since kicking off his campaign. About half of his contributions thus far have come from lawmakers.
Keller, a registered independent, has the backing of a couple labor-related PACs as well as several regional attorneys, including the dean of Northern Kentucky University’s law school, and former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham.
Because no Kentucky Supreme Court race includes more than two candidates, both candidates in each race automatically go to the general election. Primaries are meant to whittle down the slate to two candidates when there are more than two.
Also running in contested two-person races are the Louisville-based Fourth District, replacing Justice Lisabeth Hughes.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Angela Bisig has raised nearly $162,000 while attorney Jason Bowman has yet to raise any funds according to his report.
Replacing Chief Justice John Minton, who’s retiring at the end of the year, will be one of two Bowling Green-based attorneys: Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Kelly Thompson, who has not posted any fundraising to KREF yet; or Shawn Alcott, who has reported $15,800 thus far.
