This article was originally published in the November 5, 2026 print edition of the Adair County Community Voice.
Adair County voters turned out strong for Tuesday’s General Election, with Republican Chris Reeder earning 68 percent of the 5,924 votes cast in the race for county judge-executive.
Reeder will hold the county’s top executive office in January after garnering 4,003 votes in the election’s final count. Democrat Todd Davenport received 403 votes, for 24 percent of the vote, with write-in candidate Bridget Compton receiving 478 votes, for 8 percent of the vote.
Todd Smith, the Republican candidate for District 3 magistrate, took the only magisterial seat with opposition, receiving 629 votes to his opponent Jimmy Bennett’s 235 votes.
The wins for Reeder and Smith give Republicans a sweep of the fiscal court, with Smith joining incoming magistrates Tony Denton, the only incumbent; James “Jimmy” Eaton, Chris Janes, Chad Brown, Greg Caldwell, and Richard Phelps on the court. Those candidates, except for Brown, defeated opponents in the Republican primary last May.
Other local races included the District 1 school board seat, with incumbent Terry Harvey holding on to the spot with 603 votes. His opponent, Cassie Burns, received 323 votes.
In the city, voters chose top vote-getter Sharon Payne (577 votes), Hannah Peck (550 votes), Charles Grimsley (544 votes), Ronald “Butch” Rogers (489 votes), Beverly Loy (458 votes) and Andrea Burke (454 votes) over incumbent Craig Dean (452) and newcomer Richard Swartz (266 votes). Payne, Peck and Rogers are incumbents. Grimsley returns after several years away for the position, and Loy and Burke will serve their first term.
While other races were determined this election cycle, those decisions were either made during the May primary, or the candidate did not face opposition for either race.
Those elected officials are State Sen. Max Wise, State Rep. Amy Neighbors, Supreme Court Justice Debra Hembree Lambert, Court of Appeals Judge Greg Lay, District Judge Michael Loy, County Clerk Nadalie Inscho, County Attorney Jennifer Hutchison-Corbin, Sheriff Gary Roy, Jailer Buddy Powell, Coroner Robin Lewis, PVA Landon Edwards, Surveyor Michael McKinney, the magistrates named earlier, Mayor Pamela Hoots, School Board member Destiny Greer, and constables Bill Troutwine, Brandon Willis, Ken Hill, Jeff Dickson, Tim Botoms, Jason Rector and Charles Esch.
A total of 6,057 Adair County residents cast their vote in the election. That’s close to 44 percent of the 13,819 registered voters. There was a strong turnout for the three days of early voting last week, with 1,336 votes cast. An additional 164 people voted absentee.
