Incumbent Daviess County Clerk Leslie McCarty won the Republican primary Tuesday night, defeating challenger Matt Galloway and securing another term in office.
McCarty will run unopposed in the November general election.
Speaking after the results came in, McCarty said she was grateful for both the support from voters and the work of her staff during one of the busiest nights of the year for the clerk’s office.
“This is our office’s Super Bowl, so we’re glad it went well,” McCarty said. “Even though we had the ‘squirrel outage of 2026’ at Owensboro Christian Church, I’m glad that got resolved. My team did an amazing job.”
A power outage at the polling location at Owensboro Christian Church caused temporary concerns on Tuesday morning after a squirrel reportedly interfered with electrical equipment. McCarty joked about online comments surrounding the incident.
“Some people will say that somehow I trained those squirrels. I did not,” she said. “I had nothing to do with that.”
McCarty also praised Galloway and said she appreciated the tone of the campaign.
“I’m really thankful that Matt and I ran a clean race,” she said. “I’m grateful that he was my opponent, and I wish him well in the future.”
McCarty said she plans to continue expanding online access to county records and preserving historical documents maintained by the clerk’s office.
“I want to keep putting more records online,” she said. “I want to keep restoring the historical books. We’ll keep running great elections, and we’ll keep having great teams and more training, so everything will get better from here on out.”
McCarty, who first took office in 2018, has frequently pointed to modernization efforts within the clerk’s office during her tenure, including expanded online services, digital payment options, election administration improvements, and restoration of permanent county records.
She also noted that voter turnout in Tuesday’s primary exceeded turnout from the comparable election four years ago.
“Four years ago, we had just barely over 12,000 voters, and this year, we had close to 15,000,” McCarty said. “I had no expectations, because when you have expectations, you’re sure to be disappointed, so I’m just grateful Owensboro turned out to vote.”
