Perry County unofficial primary results show early leads in key races

Scott Alexander, Shawn White and Donald “Happy” Mobelini emerged with early leads in Perry County’s unofficial primary count, putting the county judge/executive office, the sheriff’s office and Hazard’s mayor’s race at the center of the next round of local political debate.

The Kentucky State Board of Elections posted the county’s live results on May 20, showing Brandon D. Smith ahead in Kentucky Senate District 30 with 1,635 votes, Alexander leading the county judge/executive race with 1,965 votes, White topping the sheriff’s race with 1,421 votes and Mobelini ahead in the Hazard mayor’s contest with 700 votes. The same page also showed Andy Barr ahead in the U.S. Senate Republican primary and Hal Rogers leading Perry County in Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District.

The local races matter far beyond party labels. Perry County’s judge/executive oversees county operations, while the sheriff’s office handles law enforcement and tax collection, two functions that shape how roads get maintained, how courthouse business moves and how public safety is handled in a county where those services touch almost every household. Perry County Government lists Scott Alexander as county judge/executive and Joseph Engle as sheriff, underscoring how directly the primary could influence the county’s day-to-day direction.

The county’s results page was still refreshing partial totals for other local contests, including magistrate and constable seats. Those lower-profile races often decide how road complaints are handled, how budget choices are filtered down to districts and how neighborhood-level law enforcement coverage is organized. In Perry County, where local officeholders have unusually direct influence, those contests can matter almost as much as the marquee races at the top of the ballot.

Perry County’s size and population trends help explain why. The county had 28,473 residents in the 2020 Census and an estimated 26,555 by July 1, 2025, spread across 339.7 square miles of land area. That geography makes countywide leadership especially important for residents in Hazard and in the rural communities that rely on the courthouse for services, records and road decisions.

The early count also set up the next phase of the campaign calendar. Brandon D. Smith has represented Kentucky Senate District 30 since 2008 and was born in Hazard on June 14, 1967. Scott Alexander is in his third term as county judge/executive and has been described as a Hazard business owner. A Perry County candidate list filed on November 7, 2025, included Shawn White and Shannon Woods in the sheriff’s race, a sign that the primary results were already starting to narrow the field for the general election conversation.