Election Results: Democrat Beshear wins Kentucky governor’s race, Cameron becomes first Republican Attorney General in more than 70 years

UPDATED: Democrat Andy Beshear won the Kentucky governor’s race on Tuesday night, defeating Governor Matt Bevin.

Beshear led Bevin in a tight race with 49.2 percent of the vote compared to the Republican incumbent’s 48.9 percent. The independent in the governor’s race received 2 percent of the vote.

On Wednesday, Gov. Bevin’s campaign issued a statement announcing they are formally calling for a recanvassing of the election results, calling the results too close to call and stating there were “multiple results of voting irregularities.”

Only around 5,000 votes separated the two candidates on election night. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says the County Boards of Elections will convene to conduct the recanvass on Thursday, November 14 at 9 a.m., upon competition the county boards of election will file their reports with the Secretary of State’s office.

Meanwhile, Andy Beshear is moving forward and announced the start of his transition team on Wednesday morning. 

GOP candidate Daniel Cameron won the attorney general’s race, making him the first Republican to hold the position in over 70 years. Cameron was running against Democrat Greg Stumbo, who held the office from 2003-2007 and served in the Kentucky state House. The final numbers in that race were 58 percent-42 percent.

Republicans were also successful in all other down-ballot races Tuesday night, including treasurer, agriculture commissioner, auditor, and secretary of state.

Incumbent Allison Ball won the treasurer race, defeating Democrat Michael Bowman with 60 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Republican Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles also pulled in 58 percent of the vote, beating Democratic candidate Robert Haley Conway.

The state auditor’s office remains in Republican control as Mike Harmon won his re-election race with 55 percent of the vote, compared to the 41 percent received by Democrat Sherri Donahue. The independent candidate in that race ended up with 3 percent.

Republicans also took control of the secretary of state’s office as election lawyer Michael Adams beat Democratic candidate Heather French Henry. French Henry was predicted by many to win that race as the former Miss America was seen as being very popular.

Two state House districts were also retained by Republicans with GOP candidates Samara Heavrin and Kimberly Banta winning special elections in state House Districts 18 and 63.

In the Kentucky Supreme Court race in western Kentucky, Court of Appeals Judge Shea Nickell beat state Senator Whitney Westerfield.