Incumbents successful in Midway elections

All Midway officials who sought another term in yesterday's election were successful: Mayor Tom Bozarth, three of the six City Council members, Magistrate Larry Craig and state Rep. Carl Rollins.

Bozarth got 483 votes to 104 for Scott Hayes, a Woodford County ambulance technician who mounted a write-in campaign after he missed the late-January deadline to get on the ballot.

In his second four-year term, Bozarth will be joined by three new council members serving two-year terms: Joy Arnold, who got 407 votes; Dan Roller, who got 408; and former mayor Becky Moore (428 votes), who said when they filed that they were "kindred spirits" who had been heavily involved in volunteer activities in Midway. Some volunteers were rankled by a ordinance, backed by Bozarth and passed 5-1 by the council, that formalized volunteer work on city property. The three council members who sought re-election got the most votes: Sharon Turner (478), Aaron Hamilton (442) and Doris Leigh (433). City races are nonpartisan.

Democrat Larry Craig, the Midway area's magistrate on the county Fiscal Court, was re-elected with 61 percent of the vote, amassing 642 votes to 405 for Republican challenger Curt Savage. The 1st District's constable, Democrat Mike Morris, was re-elected without opposition.

In another Fiscal Court race of countywide interest, independent Bruce Gill defeated Democrat Rick Curtis and Republican Jenny Sue Given for 7th District magistrate. Gill got just under 51 percent of the vote. In perhaps the county's hottest race, Versailles Mayor Fred Siegelman won re-election by defeating council member Ann Miller 1,521 to 1,374.

Rollins, a former magistrate and Midway mayor, got 52 percent of the vote to defeat Midway College executive Lyen Crews and win another term as state representative from Woodford and parts of Fayette and Franklin counties. Rollins, a Democrat and chairman of the House Education Committee, got 8,590 votes to 7,846 for the Republican. Rollins carried both Midway precincts, winning them 762 to 372. He won Woodford County 5,128 to 4,624.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler carried his home Woodford County 5,182 to 4,817, helping him edge out Republican Andy Barr of Lexington by just 625 votes out of more than 238,000 cast -- a margin of only 0.26 percent. Barr did not concede and said "The campaign continues," indicating that he will ask for a recanvass. Chandler, who lives in Pisgah Pike near Versailles, carried the Midway city precinct 426 to 245, but barely won the county precinct, 188 to 184.

U.S. Sen.-elect Rand Paul, a Republican, carried the county 5,344 to 4,520 for Democrat Jack Conway. Paul carried the county precinct 211 to 173, but Conway won Midway, 498 to 269.