Linda Popp gets 40.5 percent of the vote in defeating Magistrate Craig, former city councilman Benson

Linda Popp will be the new magistrate representing the Midway area on the Woodford County Fiscal Court, the county's governing body.

Popp won 40.5 percent of the vote in defeating Magistrate Larry Craig, who got 32.25 percent, and former city council member Dale Benson, who got 27.26 percent, according to the State Board of Elections website. (The figures add to 100.1 because of rounding.)

The vote was in the Democratic primary. No Republican filed, and no independent has served the required candidacy notice, so Popp will join the other seven magistrates in early January.

Popp ran an aggressive campaign. At the polls yesterday, retired journalist George Harper, 75, said he voted for Popp because "She's the only one who came by the house."

Susan McCall, a friend and former employee of Popp's, said she and Popp campaigned until "late last night. . . . I don't know of a door that we missed."

After Craig gave a report at last night's Midway City Council meeting, members told him he was free to return to campaigning. He said he had finished campaigning.

Popp is a financial representative for AIG Financial Network and was the owner of Country Classic, a gift shop, restaurant and catering business in Midway, which closed in 2006. She is a member of the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce, the Midway Merchants Association and Women in Business. She said she was born in Versailles and has lived in Midway 41 years.

In a pre-election interview with the Midway Messenger, Popp said she wants to see more community members involved in discussions about the county and hopes to do this through better communication with constituents.