There were a few surprises amidst southcentral Kentucky’s mostly predictable or unopposed regional elections.

Chief among them is Republican Jamie Bewley Byrd’s victory over incumbent Democrat Micheal Hale for Barren County judge executive. Byrd, a business owner, garnered 59% of the 14,017 votes cast in the race.

During her campaign, Byrd talked about how Barren County used to be on an equal plane to Warren County, but it hasn’t been proactive in seeking out opportunities, and has consequently lagged behind its neighbor.

“Barren County is ready to get that excitement back and that push to be what it used to be,” Byrd said.

Byrd’s team knocked on over 3,000 doors and focused heavily on marketing her experience during the campaign. She said that she will help Barren County grow and attract more people in a similar way, by marketing the county’s tourist attractions, school systems and low property taxes more intentionally.

“I want people to be able to live here, work here and play here,” she said.

Hale was unavailable for comment.

Elsewhere in the region, there were a pair of judge executive changes. In Edmonson County, Republican Ronald Scott Lindsey defeated Gregory Hudson in a landslide, getting 80% of the votes to replace outgoing judge-executive Wil Cannon.

Lindsey has been the deputy judge-executive under Cannon for the past 2-plus years, which he said will be good experience going forward. Lindsey said that he is on several boards in the community, like the health department and the Chamber of Commerce, and is involved in youth sports.

“I try to be as invested in my community as possible,” he said.

Lindsey said that Cannon left behind “big shoes to fill,” especially considering the transition into a redesigned fiscal court with new faces filling four of the six magistrate seats.

Lindsey plans to establish an “open door policy.” To better communicate with his constituents, he said he will start community town halls and open the judge-executive’s office two Saturdays a month.

Current Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick will be replaced by Republican Phillip Baker, who ran unopposed.

Simpson County Judge-Executive Mason Barnes won re-election with 72% of the vote against Democratic challenger Brent Deweese and Allen County Judge-Executive Dennis Harper similarly won re-election handily against Democrat Rondal Cook with 75% of the vote.

Incumbent judge-executives Timothy Flener of Butler County and Joe Choate of Hart County ran unopposed.

The only contested county attorney race was in Barren County, where Republican Mike Richardson beat Democratic incumbent Kathryn Thomas with 55% of the vote.

Richardson, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Barren and Metcalfe counties, said that he ran after hearing from community members about issues with the county attorney’s office, including accessibility, treatment of victims and an unpopular school vaping policy established by Thomas, he said.

“Those were issues that were important to Barren County voters,” Richardson said. “They voted on the issues, not necessarily who they liked the most.”

Also in Barren County, outgoing Glasgow Mayor Harold Armstrong’s replacement was selected. Henry Royse won in a landslide against Keith “Annies” Rowlett, taking 81% of the vote.

There were two close mayoral races. One was in Munfordville, where challenger Annie Swift narrowly edged out incumbent John Johnson by five votes. The other was in Franklin, where incumbent Larry Dixon fought off Kelly Bush with 51% of the vote.

Dixon said that he was expecting a close race, “but not that close.”

Dixon spent eight years before his first term as mayor as a commissioner and has business and leadership experience in the city, he said.

“I felt like my record spoke for me,” Dixon said. “I am excited to be mayor for the next four years. We have a lot to accomplish.”