The Ballot Brief
Kentucky judges

November 2026

Judges 2026 › Kentucky › Judges on the ballot

Judges on the Kentucky ballot in November 2026

Kentucky voters see 3 court races elected by district, 182 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.

Court races elected by district

Each of these seats appears only on ballots inside its court district or county. Enter your address in the lookup to see which, if any, is yours.

Supreme Court, 3rd District

Voted only inside this court district or county. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.

  • Debra Hembree Lambert Incumbent

    Debra Hembree Lambert is the incumbent justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, 3rd District, elected in 2018 and chosen by her fellow justices as Chief Justice in January 2025, per the court's official biography. She previously served as a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge and as a circuit/family court judge in the 28th Judicial Circuit. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 15, 2026.

    Full profile

Court Of Appeals, 3rd District

Voted only inside this court district or county. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.

  • Greg Lay

    Greg Lay has served as circuit judge for Knox and Laurel counties since being elected in 2004, per local Kentucky press reporting. He is the Chief Regional Circuit Judge of the Cumberland Region and was named Trial Judge of the Year in 2021 and 2023. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 15, 2026.

    Full profile

Court Of Appeals, 5th District, Division 1

Voted only inside this court district or county. 2 candidates.

  • Will Moynahan

    Will Moynahan is the incumbent judge of the Court of Appeals, 5th Appellate District, Division 1, appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear in April 2025, per his campaign site. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky and is a Naval Reserve aviator who flew combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

    Priorities: Fairness and impartiality drawn from his legal and military service, per the campaign site

    Campaign site · Full profile

  • Lucy Ferguson VanMeter

    Lucy Ferguson VanMeter has served as a judge of the Fayette Circuit Court since 2018, per her campaign site. She previously was an equity partner at Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, handling civil and criminal cases across more than 50 Kentucky counties.

    Priorities: Appellate judges should have state trial-court experience, per the campaign site

    Campaign site · Full profile

County and trial-court judicial races we track

Trial judges, county courts and other judicial offices from the county pages we have built (35 counties so far). Each link opens that race's page.

Everything else on your Kentucky ballot · Your exact ballot by ZIP code