Sheriff, jailer candidates run tight races
The 2010 Republican sheriff candidate Bobby Sullivan hugs Rosie Sexton, mother of Mendel Sexton who will be one of Sullivan’s deputies if he is elected in November. Sullivan won the sheriff’s race in Tuesday’s primary by 362 votes.
Only 58 votes separated the top two vote getters in the jailer’s race during Tuesday’s primary, and the top three candidates are all jail employees.
Eric Antle defeated his co-workers in a large field of candidates for the Republican nomination for jailer. He will face Democrat Rick Wilson in November. Wilson ran unopposed in the primary.
Antle took in 22.11 percent of the vote, with 948 votes, compared to Pam Yarberry at 890 (20.76 percent) and Tim Murphy at 865 (20.18 percent).
John Ford received 611 votes, Tim Bradshaw 509 and Joe Collins, Jr. 464.
The primary contests for jailer, sheriff and coroner were all open fields with incumbents either retiring or running for a different office.
In the sheriff’s race, retired Kentucky State Police Sgt. Bobby Sullivan earned 37.93 percent of the vote, pulling 1,686 of the 4,445 votes cast for the four candidates in the race.
Sullivan defeated Chief Deputy Sheriff Bruce McCloud by 362 votes, with McCloud receiving 1324 votes.
Bradley Irvin received 1,085 votes and Michael Burton received 350.
Sullivan will face Harrison Moss in November. Moss was the only candidate in the Democratic primary.
In the coroner’s race, Deputy Coroner Todd Akin soundly defeated his opposition for the Republican nomination, taking in 70.98 percent of the vote. He received the largest number of votes for any candidate in a countywide race with 3,042 votes. Mark Jones received 733 votes and Jessie E Hagan received 511 votes. No Democrats filed for the coroner’s race.
A number of candidates were at the courthouse annex to hear election results Tuesday night after the polls closed.
“I was absolutely shocked,” Akin said after learning the results of his race. “I’m just well blessed.”
Akin said he appreciated his opponents who ran a clean race and thanked everyone who voted for him.
Bobby Sullivan arrived just after the results were finalized.
“It’s been a long campaign but I’ve really enjoyed meeting a lot of people I’ve never met and a lot of people that I knew and were supportive of me. I just cannot thank them enough,” Sullivan said.
Sulivan’s campaign will continue as he faces opposition in November.
“We get to do it all again and hopefully I will get to see some of the people I missed the first time,” he said.
Antle said his race for the Republican nomination for jailer was difficult because he competed with his friends.
“I’ve worked with most of them,” he said.
Antle said he listened to the results on the radio then went to the jail.
“We all decided we were going to stay friends and I’ve had several already call me and congratulate me,” Antle said.
Antle said he was not able to visit a lot of people during the race because of work and thanked the people who voted for him.
“I’ve had a lot of good support and they worked as hard as they could work,” he said.
For more election results, go to www.sos.ky.gov.
By Sharon Burton
sunburton@windstream.net
