As this year’s legislative session gets under way, one seat in Kentucky’s 100-member House of Representatives is still in question. Capitol reporter Ryland Barton says a panel of lawmakers will determine who will represent a district that was won by just one vote.
Former Republican Rep. DJ Johnson lost re-election to represent House District 13 by one vote in November to Jim Glenn, a Democrat who previously held the seat between 2007 and 2016.
Johnson has requested a recount of the election, a process whereby the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will ultimately determine the outcome.
The last time an election contest took place in the legislature was 2004 in the Kentucky Senate. Back then, a randomly-selected panel of lawmakers determined that incoming Republican legislator Dana Seum Stephenson was not qualified to be seated because she wasn’t a resident of the state.
The Senate then voted to override the panel and seat Stephenson instead of her Democratic opponent, Virginia Woodard, who had gotten fewer votes in the election.
The Kentucky Supreme Court ended up ruling against Stephenson and calling a special election.
