Democrat Linda Belcher won back her state legislature seat in a special election Tuesday night for Kentucky’s 49th District to replace Dan Johnson, a pastor who committed suicide after he was accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl.
Belcher received 68 percent of the vote, while Republican Rebecca Johnson, Johnson’s widow, received only 32 percent. In total, 4,947 ballots were cast.
“Cloud nine about describes it,” Belcher said, according to the Courier Journal. “Our strategies worked. We ran a very positive campaign and we were trying to reach out and touch the people of Bullitt County and we did. I have to thank them for listening to our message.”
Dan Johnson committed suicide late last year after the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published a report claiming he molested a a 17-year-old-girl at the church where he was a pastor.
Rebecca Johnson announced shortly after her husband’s death that she intended to run for the vacant seat and the Bullitt County GOP nominated her two weeks afterwards.
Belcher previously served in the seat. She took over for her husband, Larry Belcher, in 2008 after he died in a car crash. Linda Belcher represented the 49th from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2014 to 2016 before she lost the election to Dan Johnson.
