The numbers are in, and we now know what the final slate of candidates will be for the Kenton County commissioner race in November.
Following the tallies from Tuesday night’s primary election, the following candidates will appear on the ballot in the general election:
District 1 (Note: District 1 had no primaries this year):
- Democrat candidate: Sarah Froelich (challenger)
- Republican candidate: Beth Sewell (incumbent)
District 2:
- Democrat candidate: Ben Bach (ran unopposed in the primary)
- Republican candidate: Jeff Niceley
District 3:
- Democrat candidate: Jordan Baldridge
- Republican candidate: Richard “Scott” Kimmich
Commissioner seats correspond to districts based on where the commissioner lives, but the positions represent the county at-large, meaning they represent the county as a whole. Any county voter can cast votes in each district.
County commissioners serve as legislators of the county fiscal courts, which are extensions of the state government that operate at a more localized level. Fiscal courts, in spite of their names, have no judicial role. Instead, they carry out executive and legislative functions, similar to how a city council governs a city.
Fiscal courts are headed up by a judge/executive, who serves as the central executive of the county government. The current Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann is running unopposed for reelection this year.
County governments have several roles, namely to provide essential public services, including infrastructure, road maintenance, parks, jails and animal control.
Counties also administer elections (note: Fiscal courts themselves do not administer elections; that duty falls to county boards of election), keep important records, and collect and allocate tax funding for the aforementioned public services. Other services, such as law enforcement dispatch services, are also administered at the county level. The county clerk, jailer, and sheriff are responsible for submitting budgets to the fiscal court, which then votes on whether they’re appropriate.
The commissioner positions are usually not full time, unlike other elected positions at the county level. Thus, fiscal courts often employ full-time county administrators and other administrative staff to handle the day-to-day.
This year’s county commissioner race was unique in that two of the fiscal court’s incumbents, Joe Nienaber and Jon Draud, decided not to run for reelection. This year’s field was packed and featured primaries in both parties. It was also the first time the Kenton County Democrats have run candidates for the body in over 20 years.
Economic development, environmental issues, tax policy and how the county deals with its rural land were all key issues in the primary this year. Several candidates in both parties said they ran because of how the current county administration has fielded issues like the Site Readiness Initiative in the south county or what they viewed as a dismissive attitude among county leaders more generally.
The candidates came from a variety of backgrounds. All but one of the Democrat candidates, Jordan Baldridge, is a member of the Kenton County Democrats Executive Committee. Many of the Republican candidates either had direct links to the local Republican party or organizations adjacent to it.
Check out all of the Kenton County primary race results here.