Past officeholder, longtime neighborhood president running for Fayette judge-executive

Jon Larson, a Republican, and Mary Diane McCord Hanna, a Democrat, will face off in November in the race for Fayette County judge-executive.

The current judge-executive, Don Blevins Sr., who has held the office since 2019, is not running for reelection. The position comes with a four-year term.

The judge-executive’s duties in Fayette County include working with the fiscal court to allocate county road funds and signing documents authorizing the funding for extraditions of prisoners.

The judge-executive appoints the members of the tax appeals board, the group to which residents appeal when they don’t agree with their tax assessments. The judge-executive also has the power to fill vacancies for county offices such as sheriff, county attorney, county clerk and coroner.

When the county is sued, the judge-executive is the one who is served with the paperwork.

Here’s how each of the candidates said they’d run the office.

Jon Larson

Larson was elected judge-executive in 2011, then was appointed to the office in 2018, after the former judge-executive at the time resigned.

“This is a public service office,” he said. “It only pays $9,000 a year. ...It serves little function, but I love these functions that it does.”

Larson said he’s been active in regional groups including the Kentucky Association of Counties, Bluegrass Area Development District, Metropolitan Planning Organization and Kentucky County Judge/Executive Association, and he’ll continue that if re-elected.

Years ago, Larson ran on a platform of abolishing the office of judge-executive in Fayette County. While he still agrees that should happen in the long run, Larson said he’s “discovered through a lot of hard work ... that it takes a lot of political maneuvering.” He said it wouldn’t be accomplished in the next four years and isn’t the focus of the job.

He pledged to operate the office in an above-board way if he’s elected.

If a vacancy occurred in another county office, Larson said he’d work with the city to vet his appointee. He noted that the offices he might be appointing someone to have scores of employees and millions of dollars in their budgets.

“I don’t think that the public should allow that appointment to be in secret,” he said, adding later, “I wouldn’t make appointments according to a party.”

Larson said the judge-executive also oversees the county’s Robert Henry Hughes Scholarship program, which provides scholarships to students for higher education.

“I personally went to all the high schools and encouraged them to get African-American and minority applications,” he said. “It’s something to encourage our students. ...I’m excited about it, and I love doing that.”

A criminal defense attorney, he said he’s active in his community, volunteering at the jail and working with Veterans Treatment Court. He said he considers himself nonpartisan.

“I don’t consider myself a hardcore anything except a community activist,” he said. “I believe in these things. I use this job for a positive gain for our community.”

Larson, who has previously run for state treasurer, urban county council and U.S. House of Representatives, most recently sought to unseat state Rep. Susan Westrom in 2020.

Mary Diane McCord Hanna

This is Hanna’s first run for public office, and she said she decided to do it after being asked by multiple people, including the current judge-executive.

“I would try to be fair and equitable,” she said.

For about 30 years, Hanna has been the president of the Old Richmond Road Neighborhood Association, which covers a rural portion of southern Fayette County.

During that time, she said she’s led the group in pushing back against development, often in the form of roads cutting through farmland.

One of those projects, she said, was a proposal to build an “outer loop” that would connect Nicholasville to Interstate 75. Last year, there was discussion of adding a new interchange on I-75 at mile marker 101.

“Our main concern for probably 90, 95% of the people is ... keeping it green, keeping it rural,” she said. “We live in the country for a reason.”

She said she’s already been attending Metropolitan Planning Organization meetings to advocate for the area. Serving as judge-executive, she said “kind of goes arm in arm” with the work she’s doing for the neighborhood.

The position as judge-executive, Hanna said, would allow her “to be able to fight what the other judge-executives and the people in the city of Lexington sometimes want to do.”

She is interested in making sure the county’s roads are safe and well-maintained and said she’d work to ensure the funds were allocated in a fair way.

While vacancies in other county offices are not common, Hanna said that she would “take counsel with a number of other people,” probably including the mayor, if an appointment needed to be made.

“I would probably look at who else has been interested in this office,” she said.

Hanna said she’s also received a suggestion that the Robert Henry Hughes Scholarship program be used for educating Fayette County students about the county’s history through the Lexington History Museum rather than being distributed to individual students for higher education. “I have no problem with that,” she said.

Hanna said some people have asked about her “platform,” but she believes serving as judge-executive should be a straightforward, “not terribly political” position: “Do your job, and that’s your job.”

Jon Larson

Age: 77

Previous work experience: Criminal defense attorney in his 49th year of practicing law. First nine years was in the public defender’s office before going into private practice.

Any offices currently or previously held: Elected Fayette County judge-executive from 2011 to 2014 and appointed to serve a partial term in 2018 after the previous judge-executive resigned.

Family members: Wife, Sari; and stepson. Larson said he also raised a young woman by himself who was not his biological daughter and is now helping her raise her two sons.

Mary Diane McCord Hanna

Age: 67

Previous work experience: Owner and manager of Silvacola Farm; Owner and manager of three furnished rental properties; Dental hygienist; Owner of Mary Diane Hanna Creative Services interior design, art and calligraphy company; Quoted insurance rates for clients at Purdy & Cooke Insurance; Textile chemist and colorist for Baldauf Manufacturing in Johnson City, Tenn.; Assistant manager of Cabbages and Kings gift shop.

Any offices currently or previously held: No elected offices. President of the Old Richmond Road Neighborhood Association; President, VP and secretary of the Bluegrass District Dental Hygiene Association; Social chair of the Lexington Polo Club.

Family members: Husband, Lyle Shelby Hanna; son, Brent Shelby McCord Hanna; granddaughter and grandson.

This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 8:00 AM.

Karla Ward

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-379-5361

Karla Ward is a native of Logan County who has worked as a reporter at the Herald-Leader since 2000. She covers breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription