Another Kentucky House candidate disqualified for error in filing papers

A voter prepares a ballot at the Sugar Maple Square voting location in Bowling Green, May 21, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

A judge has removed Democrat Richard Henderson as a candidate for the state House in Shelby County because of errors in his candidacy filing papers.

The action July 30 by Shelby Circuit Judge Michelle Brummer at the request of Shelby County Judge-Executive Dan Ison leaves Republican incumbent Jennifer Decker unopposed in the Nov. 5 election for the state’s 58th House District. The district covers most of Shelby County.

Henderson, an IT employee who had no opposition in the May Democratic primary, was the first Black Democrat to seek the seat.

He said he will not appeal the judge’s order, “but we will come back in 2026.”

He said he plans to run again in two years for the House seat. “It will be a great opportunity then to flip this seat back to Democratic, especially with the success Democrats expect in keeping the White House this November.”

Decker, of Waddy, did not respond to calls for comment about Brummer’s order.

Ison has said Decker did not ask him to file the lawsuit, which he did with Shelby County citizen Janrose Stillwell,

Ison said he was involved in a similar case years ago and decided that it was his duty as Shelby County’s top Republican official to challenge Henderson’s papers.

Henderson’s attorney, Fielding Ballard of Shelbyville, questioned that, saying Ison filed the lawsuit after Henderson handed out “all his campaign cards” at Shelbyville’s annual Dogwood Festival in the spring.

In their lawsuit against Henderson, Ison and Stillwell claimed Henderson violated the state law that requires a candidate’s notification petition to be signed by the candidate and “by not less than two registered voters of the same party.”

Henderson’s candidacy papers were not signed by a single registered Democratic voter, said the legal challenge against him.

The lawsuit said Adam Muntzinger and Taunya Muntzinger were the two citizens who signed Henderson’s papers and both were registered Republicans in the district at the time They changed their party affiliation to Democrat in March of this year.

Henderson, in a response to the court, denied the allegations and said he believed the persons signing his candidacy papers were registered voters of his party. given “from all conversations and statements” he had with them over the years.

Judge Brummer in her four-page order noted that recent guidance on the issue was provided by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in a similar Jefferson County case.

Ison’s attorney, state Rep. Jason Nemes of Louisville, did not return calls seeking comment.

Ballard, Henderson’s attorney, said Brummer’s ruling was expected, given the recent Kentucky Supreme Court decision involving the case in Jefferson County.

In early June, Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter issued a one-page order that said incumbent state Rep. Nima Kulkarni of Louisville was disqualified as a candidate in this May’s Democratic election for the 40th District House seat.

The Supreme Court order in the Kulkarni case came one day after the state’s highest court held a hearing on her eligibility to run in the May primary election. She handily won the primary and had no opposition for the November general election.

Kentucky Supreme Court disqualifies Kulkarni in state House race

VanMeter’s order said a majority of the court upheld the decision by the Kentucky Court of Appeals that Kulkarni should be disqualified from the race because of errors in her candidacy filing papers.

He said the order was issued for the benefit of the parties involved and that the Supreme Court would  issue an opinion “in due course.”

It is not clear what will be done to make sure the Jefferson County district has a state representative for the next two years, beginning Jan. 1. Kulkarni was the only one on the ballot.

Kulkarni did not return phone calls about the situation.

Steve Megerle, a Covington attorney representing former state Democratic Rep. Dennis Horlander, who filed the suit against Kulkarni, said, “We are waiting for the Supreme Court to say something about what will happen.”

He said Horlander is prepared to seek legal action to make sure that Kulkarni’s name is not on the November ballot. He noted that ballots are to be prepared by mid-August.

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