Two years ago, political newcomer Jason Price defeated then sitting Division Two District Judge Fred White by nearly 1,000 votes to win the remainder of the term vacated by Dan Ballou when he won the circuit judge’s job.
Tuesday at the polls, Price and White faced off in a rematch with White coming out on top in the two county race by 76 total votes.
White said that he wasn’t surprised that the race was so close.
“I know him and his family worked really hard. He is a good campaigner and really wanted to keep the job,” White said. “Jason got out and ran a good hard race. I respect him and his family, and I hope they do well after this.”
White said that he thinks the difference this time around was that he had every barber from Jellico to Stearns working for him in this election.
White said that he is excited by the victory, but perhaps not as excited as his family and friends were.
“My family is very excited. They worked harder than I did,” White said. “My family and friends worked really hard and took care of me.”
Price said late Tuesday night that he was waiting until he got official totals before commenting on the election’s outcome, which he said probably wouldn’t be until Wednesday morning at the earliest.
Two years ago, Price defeated White by a total vote of 8,837 to 7,896 in the two county race.
In 2008, Price narrowly beat White in Whitley County with 6,191 votes to White’s 6,036. Price won decisively in McCreary County that year with 2,646 votes to White’s 1,860.
On Tuesday, White carried Whitley County, and kept the margins much closer in McCreary County.
White garnered 4,323 votes in Whitley County to Price’s 3,888 votes Tuesday.
Price once again carried McCreary County with 2,433 votes to White’s 2,074 votes in McCreary County.
White said that he doesn’t plan on doing anything significantly different this time around as district judge than he did during his prior term.
White said that he does hope to do a better job of announcing what is going when he is on the bench so that the public won’t have to wonder what is happening during court.
