Independent Earns 21% of the Vote In Kentucky Special Legislative Election

From Ballot Access News, June 28, 2013:

On June 25, Kentucky held a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, 56th district. The results: Democrat James Kay 44.0%, Republican Lyon Crews 34.4%; independent John-Mark Hack 21.6%.

When this same seat had been filled in November 2012, the results had been: Democrat Carl Rollins 53.3%, Republican Douglass Jones 46.7%. The ease of the Democratic victory in the recent special election was surprising, because the independent candidate had been an aide to former Democratic Governor Paul Patton and had been a Democrat most of his life. Therefore, some observers felt the presence of the independent in the race would split the Democratic vote and allow the Republican to win. Here is an article about the independent candidate from May, when he first announced his candidacy.