In reversal days before election, appeals court disqualifies Louisville Democrat

In a reversal of a previous decision, a state court has ruled incumbent state Rep. Nima Kulkarni, a Louisville Democrat, filed improper paperwork as she sought reelection this year and should be removed from the ballot as a qualified candidate.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals issued the ruling Wednesday morning.

In a text message, Kulkarni said her team is "absolutely taking this to the Supreme Court." Early voting in Kentucky's primary begins Thursday, with Election Day set for Tuesday.

"The Court of Appeals got it wrong and ignored major components of the law," Kulkarni wrote Wednesday morning. "I am disappointed that they chose to disenfranchise voters one day before early voting begins. We are absolutely fighting this unjust decision."

Kulkarni, in office since 2019, faced one primary challenger in fellow Democrat William Zeitz. No Republicans filed to run.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of former state Rep. Dennis Horlander, who Kulkarni defeated in the 2018 election to take office. He is not running for the seat.

Horlander's attorney, Steven Megerle, said he and his client were pleased with the decision and thanked the court for "issuing a very prompt decision that will not upset the election processes, because Ms. Kulkarni should not have been on the ballot in the first place."

Ashley Tinius, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Clerk, said the office had not yet heard from judges in the case as of Wednesday morning.

"Once we hear from the circuit judge, we will post notices that Ms. Kulkarni is disqualified and no votes will be counted for her," Tinius said in an email.

Zeitz, reached by phone Wednesday immediately after the ruling, said he lives in South Louisville near Taylor Berry and works as a truck driver for Louisville Paving — he was on the job when he answered the phone and had not heard about the decision.

He has no previous experience in politics, he told The Courier Journal, but said his goal if he reaches office is to "try to help out the little guy" and "figure out how I can help the people in the neighborhood." He cited helping cut into homelessness in Louisville as a key issue — "every time I see somebody living on the side of the highway, it just makes me so sad."

"I've always wanted to do something to help the people, and I'll tell you what, if that's what I can do, I will. And if not, I guess I'll be one of those one-term guys," he said.

Horlander's lawsuit was filed in mid-March. While state law requires candidates running for office to be nominated by two members of the candidate's party, the suit claimed one of the individuals who nominated Kulkarni, Sharon LaRue, was a registered Republican when she signed the paperwork before changing parties weeks later.

Kulkarni has acknowledged LaRue was a GOP member at the time of the signing but said she had changed her registration to join the Democratic Party before the paperwork was certified by the Kentucky Secretary of State's office.

She argued a change in law approved in 1990 removed the timing component of the statute in question, which had previously said papers must be signed by two party members “at the time of filing his notification and declaration.” That language was changed 34 years ago and replaced with wording that said a candidate can be on the ballot when “the notice and declaration has been filed with the proper officer, and certified” according to previous statutes.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry agreed in a late April decision denying Horlander's petition. But the new court of appeals ruling disagreed with Perry's interpretation.

The appeals court determined that since LaRue did not change her registration until Jan. 8, after the deadline to register to vote in the primary (Dec. 31, 2023), a previous precedent that “established it is mandatory that a nominating petition be signed by the requisite number of qualified voters, or a candidate will be disqualified from being elected” should be used in this case.

"LaRue was a registered Republican when she signed Kulkarni’s nomination papers. She did not change her registration until after she signed the witness affidavit, after Kulkarni’s nomination papers were filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State, and after the January 5, 2024, deadline to submit nominating papers had expired," the ruling said. "LaRue, consequently, is not allowed to vote for Kulkarni in the 2024 Democratic primary election, and, therefore, she is not a 'registered voter of the same party' as Kulkarni."

Megerle said Horlander was not motivated by "political gamesmanship" in filing the lawsuit — Kulkarni landed about 47% of the vote to beat Horlander's 25.3% in a four-person 2018 primary, then defeated him again in the 2020 primary with about 78% of the vote.

Instead, the attorney said Horlander "just wanted his successor to be held to the same standards as every other member of the General Assembly and respect the processes in order to be nominated for a partisan office and elected to a partisan office."

"At the end of the day, it is Politics 101 to make sure that the people signing your nominating petition are voters of the same party when you choose to run in a partisan primary," Megerle said.

The court's ruling was unanimous, with an opinion written by Judge Sara Walter Combs alongside fellow judges Pamela R. Goodwine and J. Christopher McNeill.

House District 40 covers several neighborhoods, most of which are directly west of Interstate 65 and north of Interstate 264. The district includes the Fairgrounds and University of Louisville's campus along with neighborhoods such as Shively and Wilder Park.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Nima Kulkarni ineligible in Kentucky primary race, appeals court rules