Politics

Howard Wilkinson: Politics and More

0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Low Voter Turnout, Few Surprises In Northern Kentucky Tuesday

91.7 WVXU | By Howard Wilkinson

Published May 23, 2018 at 7:31 AM EDT

Northern Kentucky voter turnout in Tuesday's primary election was abysmally low, despite the presence of some significant contests in all of the counties.

In an election where turnout statewide was only 23.5 percent, only 14.5 percent of Boone County voters came out, while 13.5 percent voted in Campbell County and only 10 percent in Kenton County.

Among the highlights of the election results Tuesday night:

Boone County:

In a hotly contested race for county judge executive, incumbent Gary Moore, who has held the office for 20 years, defeated challenger Chris Reinersman in the GOP primary.
Linda Tally Smith, the Commonwealth Attorney for Boone and Gallatin counties since 2000, was rejected by GOP voters. Louis Kelly took about 68 percent of the vote. Tally Smith was caught up in a controversy over her handling of the David Wayne Dooley murder case.

Kenton County:

In the Covington City Commission race, a field of 10 candidates was whittled to eight in Tuesday's election. Those eight candidates will compete for four open seats on the commission in the November election. Incumbent Bill Wells led the field, with former Covington mayor Denny Bowman coming in second.
Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn easily defeated challengers Marc Chapman and Seymour Fisk in the GOP primary. Korzenborn has a whopping 67 percent of the vote.

Campbell County:

County Judge-Executive Steve Pendery won the GOP primary with 54.6 percent of the vote over challenger Anna Zinkhorn.
Charlie Cleves took 62 percent of the vote in a three-way race for Bellevue mayor. In November, he will face Steve Brun, who finished second in Tuesday's three-way race.

Fourth Congressional District (Democratic primary):

The district includes 20 counties, including Boone, Kenton and Campbell. It is represented now by Republican Thomas Massie, who had no opposition in Tuesday's primary.

Three candidates ran on the Democratic side, and Seth Hall from La Grange in Oldham County won with about 41 percent of the vote. Patti Piatt of Florence came in second with 37 percent of the vote and Christina Lord finished last with 22 percent.

Hall will take on Massie this fall in what is considered a heavily Republican district.

You can find a link to all results from all Kentucky counties and legislative districts here.