Timmy Dunn will be the next Henderson County Judge-Executive after securing an election victory on Tuesday night.
Dunn, a Republican, received 7,945 votes to Democrat Les Jenkins-Mackey’s 5,407 votes, in what was arguably Henderson County’s most heated race.
Speaking to WSON on Wednesday afternoon, Dunn said he’s still soaking his victory in less than 24 hours after the race was called in his favor.
“I don’t even think it’s set in yet,” Dunn said. “We’ve been so tired and so exhausted from the past 10 months. A lot of us are on the team, and even on the other side – Les’s team. I’m sure they’re all exhausted just like we are.”
Dunn said he left the venue holding the election night party somewhere around 9 or 9:30 Tuesday but it felt like 11:30 a.m. He said he and his family, which includes his wife Missy and their five children, ate Papa John’s pizza and sat chatting about the night and how great it was to see such a big crowd there to support Dunn on Election Night.
He said he was also grateful to those who voted in the election.
“This is one of the most patriotic things you can do,” Dunn said. “This is still the United States of America. We can vote. We have the freedom to vote. We have a duty to vote and I’m glad so many people did. I hope more people get out to vote. And we can all have a difference of opinion because that’s fine because it’s okay to do that because we’re in America. But as long as we understand that we all want the same thing at the end of that road. We may have different opinions about how we get there, but we are all going to the same place.”
Dunn said he’s been learning and “taking information through a firehose” as he prepares to take office in the new year.
“I know we have a lot of good people in government, whether that be city government or county government and just all the different organizations,” he said. “I look to learn from them. Of course, we’ll always first and foremost listen to our people, but I just want to go in there and see what it’s all about.”
Dunn will succeed outgoing Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider, a Republican who has served in that position since 2016. Dunn defeated Schneider in the May Republican primary.
Schneider was appointed by former Gov. Matt Bevin in 2016 following the passing of then Henderson County Judge-Executive Hugh McCormick, a Democrat. McCormick was also initially appointed to serve judge-executive in 2010 following the passing of Henderson County’s longest serving Henderson County Judge-Executive Sandy Watkins, a Democrat. Watkins was first elected in 1994.
Dunn touched briefly on the mudslinging that occurred on both sides in the Henderson County Judge-Executive’s race.
“There’s just no need for it,” Dunn said. “I wish it went different and I’m sure Les wished it went differently. I think we can all agree there’s no need for that. Let’s all leave that to the national politics. They can have a circus if they want to but let’s try to all love each other, even through the disagreements.”
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