Charlie Castlen, a current County Commissioner, garnered nearly half the votes in Tuesday’s primary to earn the Republican nomination for Daviess County Judge-Executive.
Castlen earned 3,961 votes, beating out challengers Will Mounts (2,829 votes) and Reid Haire (1,822).
“It feels very good to win,” Castlen said. “…I didn’t know if I was going to win, I didn’t have a good read on it. But I just got a much better feeling going into the week.”
Castlen will now go on to face Bruce Kunze, the lone Democrat to file for the seat, in the General Election.
Castlen has served for three terms alongside current Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, and served 12 years on the Owensboro City Commission.
During his campaign, he said the position of Judge-Executive isn’t supposed to come in with a list of things he would like to get accomplished. Instead, it’s about listening to the people in the county to see if there’s something the government should pursue or work on changing.
He plans to take that same approach should he be elected in November. Castlen said he feels hopeful going into the election in November against Kunze.
He previously said that the county is in good financial shape and that it’ll take “good leaders who will keep it there.” He said that government and elected officials shouldn’t be a dominant factor in daily life, despite what some others may believe.
He said he’s appreciative of all who voted for him in the primary election and hopes to meet their needs should he be elected.
“When somebody votes for you it’s [them saying] ‘I have faith that I am going to represent the community and you’re going do the right thing,’ and that’s very humbling,” Castlen said.
