It was a big election night for Christian County Republicans as Jerry Gilliam unseated longtime Judge-Executive Steve Tribble, J.R. Knight is Hopkinsville’s mayor-elect, Hopkinsville City Council will be made up of 12 Republicans and there will only be two Democrats on Christian Fiscal Court.
Gilliam defeated Judge Tribble by about 900 votes—a six-percent margin of victory.
Judge Tribble is one of the longest-serving judges in the history of Kentucky, having been first elected in 1993 and Gilliam praised him as he intends to work together on the transition.
Gilliam says he’ll work with anyone in the community to make Christian County a better place to live and work.
Republican Russ Guffey won the District 7 seat on Christian Fiscal Court by a wide margin, Republican John Bruce unseated incumbent Terry Bowman, Josh Turner defeated Democrat incumbent Mark Wells and Republican George Barnett knocked off veteran magistrate Mark Cansler. Democrat Rich Liebe was re-elected by defeating Republican A.J. Rogers by 98 votes and he joins Magaline Ferguson as the only Democrats on the eight-member court.
Meanwhile, Knight defeated Democrat Alethea West by about 1,800 votes to be Hopkinsville’s next mayor and says he’s going to meet with people across the city over the next two months to get off to a good start in January.
For the first time in history, all 12 Hopkinsville City Council members will be Republicans—Natasha Francis in Ward 1, Bruce Smiley in Ward 2, Don Marsh in Ward 3, Chuck Crabtree will continue representing Ward 4, Amy Craig was unopposed in Ward 5, Ward 6 went to incumbent Travis Martin, Ward 7 to Doug Wilcox, Terry Meek won in Ward 8, longtime incumbent Patricia Bell was unseated by Jamie Lienberger in Ward 9, Steve Keel was unopposed in Ward 10, Jason Bell won re-election in Ward 11 and veteran councilman Phillip Brooks was defeated by Matthew Handy in Ward 12.
Knight