Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter defeated incumbent Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Will Moynahan on Tuesday, overcoming the support her opponent received from Gov. Andy Beshear.
Moynahan was endorsed by Beshear, who appointed him to the seat last year in the nine-county central Kentucky district that includes Lexington.
Both candidates raised and spent more than half a million dollars in the race, with Beshear’s dark money group funding $250,000 of ads supporting the incumbent Moynahan.
VanMeter won comfortably over Moynahan, finishing with 59% of the vote. She won in eight of the nine counties in the district, only losing in Franklin County.
VanMeter served two four-year terms as circuit judge in Fayette County. She is the wife of retired Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter, and was endorsed by three other former justices in Kentucky.
This is the third consecutive election cycle in which the principles of Kentucky’s nonpartisan judicial election system were challenged in a high-profile race, with Republican and Democratic officials — including partisan political action committees — lining up to support and contribute money to opposing candidates.
While Beshear openly endorsed and financially supported Moynahan, VanMeter was backed by Republican elected officials, as more than a dozen GOP state lawmakers contributed to her, including four members of Republican leadership.
The partisan influence into the race was criticized by the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee, a nonpartisan watchdog group that previously criticized Supreme Court races in 2022 and 2024 where candidates touted endorsements and PACs spent heavily.
This is another judicial race where Beshear’s involvement tried to tip the scales, as his super PAC and dark money group contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect Justice Pamela Goodwine in 2024.
