Democrats go to court to try to field a state House candidate in a Louisville district

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams

Democrats are still attempting to field a candidate in a state House race in Louisville, after one candidate was deemed ineligible because he wasn't registered with the party at the beginning of the year and another got blocked from filing for the race two weeks ago by the secretary of state.

Now, a new legal challenge is part of that effort.

Matthew Pfaadt was selected by the Jefferson County Democratic Party in April to be the party's nominee for House District 29, taking advantage of a provision allowing the party to replace the candidate who had previously filed for the seat but was redistricted outside its borders in January.

However, the candidacy of Pfaadt imploded when Republicans discovered in early September he was not a registered Democrat until Jan. 11 of this year — meaning he was ineligible to be the party's nominee.

Pfaadt promptly withdrew from the race on Sept. 12, and Louisville Democrats nominated Ann Federspiel Sermersheim to replace him.

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However, when Sermersheim attempted to file for the race the next day, the office of Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams would not permit her, saying the final candidates for the race had already been certified and there was no certified vacancy on the ballot to be filled.

In a lawsuit filed Sept. 16 in Jefferson Circuit Court, Sermersheim's attorney, Anna Stewart Whites, argued Adams violated state law by denying her right to file for office and asked the judge to issue an order allowing the Jefferson County Clerk's Office to place her on the ballot.

Whites' motion says only the county clerk can determine if a candidate is ineligible as a replacement and cites KRS 118.105 as stating a replacement may be allowed as long as there is a vacancy by Sept. 15.

'You just can't keep doing do-overs'

Adams told The Courier Journal last week that another statute, KRS 118.105 (3), does not give him the power to certify a vacancy for a race after the certification of candidates, which occurred in August. With no certified vacancy in a race, no candidate may fill that space.

"I don't think I have any power under the statute to certify a vacancy that occurs after the certification of candidates. I'm just not empowered to do that," Adams said. "What the statute plainly says is they can't even nominate anybody until I certify the vacancy."

Adams conceded there is some ambiguity in the law with statutes that contradict each other, saying the one cited by Whites referring to a Sept. 15 deadline for a vacancy was intended for years with a presidential election and party conventions running into the summer.

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Noting that 16 of the 22 vacancies his office has certified have been for Democrats, Adams also highlighted that Democrats withdrew their candidate from state Senate District 12 just before the August certification and he gave them 10 days to fill the vacancy — even though that extended past the certification of candidates.

Referring to that replacement — allowing Democrats to replace Paula Setser-Kissick on the ballot with Bill O'Brien — Adams said "we arguably didn't have to do" that and "some Republicans weren't too happy about it."

"We still did it, because he was right on the cusp and it was a close call and I thought that was the right thing to do," Adams said. "But there has to be a point where you just can't keep doing do-overs. And I think we've passed that."

In a press release the Louisville Democratic Party issued last week, chairwoman Virginia Woodward said she was "outraged" by Adams' "arbitrary denial" of Sermersheim's candidacy.

State Rep. Kevin Bratcher is the 13-term Republican on the ballot in the race for this southwestern Jefferson County district.

While the district leans Republican — former President Donald Trump won it over President Joe Biden in 2020 by 11 percentage points — it is one of the few GOP-held legislative seats in Kentucky this year where Republicans do not have an overwhelming advantage.

Republicans currently hold a 75-25 seat supermajority over Democrats in the House, which is not expected to face any serious threat of significantly decreasing in the general election.

Jefferson County ballots already printed

The first hearing in Sermersheim's lawsuit took place Monday, with motions due by both sides before the next hearing on Oct. 11. Adams' office had not been served yet and was represented in court by Bridget Bush, an attorney active in Republican politics.

The State Board of Elections, Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw and the Jefferson County Board of Elections also were named as respondents in the lawsuit.

Erran Huber, a spokesperson for Holsclaw, told The Courier Journal the clerk's office cannot offer specific comment on pending or active litigation but "has consistently maintained that our free, fair, and secure elections are conducted with integrity." The office will be represented in court by the Jefferson County Attorney's office.

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Huber said the general election ballots for Jefferson County have already been printed and absentee ballots began to be mailed out Saturday for those who requested them.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Democrats go to court to field a state House candidate in Louisville