Jefferson County voters selected a new family court judge, ousting a judge appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear earlier this year, according to votes tallied Tuesday night.
Lori Goodwin, 39, won more than 130,000 votes, or about half the votes counted. Her opponents, Daren C. Neel and Ellie Kerstetter, garnered about 20% and 26% of the vote, respectively.
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Goodwin is a longtime Legal Aid Society lawyer in the nonprofit’s family law division, and she serves on Jefferson County’s Fatality Review Committee, which reviews domestic-related homicides. She unsuccessfully ran for a family court seat in 2018.
Her priorities will be courtroom timeliness and scheduling to get through quick cases before more complex ones.
“Sometimes people are literally waiting hours to have their cases heard. These are people who have to take off work and are already struggling,” Goodwin told WFPL News last month.
Incumbent Kerstetter took over the family court seat for the 30th District and 3rd Division in January. Beshear selected her to fill a short-term vacancy after her predecessor retired. She is fluent in Spanish and the first Latina judge in Kentucky.
