Louisville Metro Council Member Cassie Chambers Armstrong has declared victory in the race for former state Senator Morgan McGarvey’s seat.
Chambers Armstrong, a Democrat, defeated Republican Misty Glin in a special election for Kentucky Senate District 19, winning more than 75% of the vote, according to unofficial results published late Tuesday by the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office. Nearly 10,600 voters cast ballots.
She will join six Democrats in the Kentucky Senate, which has 38 districts. She'll finish the remainder of McGarvey's term, nearly two years.
Chambers Armstrong declared victory an hour before the results were published.
“We have built something big. And it’s something that the thousands of people who voted today believed in,” she said Tuesday evening at her election night party.
Following the unofficial results, Glin said in a text message she conceded the race and congratulated Chambers Armstrong.
“It was a tough fight, an uphill battle but the Republican Party deserved someone on the ballot that they knew would work hard for them. I will always fight for positive change in our community,” she said.
Chambers Armstrong has represented Metro Council District 8, which includes neighborhoods such as Bonnycastle and Tyler Park and home-rule cities like Strathmoor Village, since 2021. She sponsored ordinances that require city rental units to be tested for lead, add penalties for street racing and expand where child care facilities can operate, among others.
Glin ran for Jefferson County Board of Education District 6 in November, losing to incumbent Corrie Shull. Her campaign website for the state Senate race said her goals included lowering the state’s income tax, creating stricter punishments for repeat criminal offenders and increasing parents’ influence in educational settings.
Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat, was District 19’s representative since 2013 until he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District in November. Chambers Armstrong and Glin were announced as their parties’ candidates for the seat in late December.
District 19 spans much of the Highlands area Chambers Armstrong represents on Metro Council, along with neighborhoods like Schnitzelburg, Buechel and Fern Creek.
“It was a priority to me during the campaign to get out and meet people in areas that I hadn’t represented before,” she said.
Chambers Armstrong also said she plans to submit her resignation from Metro Council on Wednesday, and for it to be approved at the council’s next meeting on March 2.
Metro Council’s current rules require its members to appoint someone from a group of candidates to fill vacancies.
Earlier this month, Metro Council voted to elect Democrats Kumar Rashad and Phillip Baker as new representatives in Districts 3 and 6, respectively, after Democrats Keisha Dorsey and David James joined Mayor Craig Greenberg’s administration.
That could soon change, however. Kentucky’s 2023 legislative session is considering House Bill 191, which would require residents to vote for candidates to fill Metro Council vacancies.
The bill has Republican and Democratic support, and would generally require elections to take place as soon as two months after a member leaves.
This story was updated.