The Losing Candidates in Three Northern Kentucky Mayoral Races All Say They Will Not Ask for Recounts: Fort Thomas Was Decided by 25 Votes, Elsmere by 13 and Erlanger by 56
KENTUCKY, United States — Three mayoral races in northern Kentucky were decided by a few dozen votes, and all three losing candidates have said they will not ask for a recount, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on November 13. In Kentucky, local races do not have to be particularly close to qualify for a recount, but when results are determined by just a few votes, a recount could change everything; in these three races, the losers chose to accept the results.
In Fort Thomas, in Campbell County, mayor elect Sharon MacKnight beat Andy Ellison by 3,354 votes to 3,329, a margin of 25 votes. Ellison was unanimously appointed Fort Thomas interim mayor in December 2025 by his city council colleagues, after longtime Mayor Eric Haas vacated the position due to health reasons. While he could ask for a recount, Ellison told The Enquirer he has no plans to do so, saying he has faith in the county offices that do the count and that the people who came out and voted voted for who they wanted, and this is the result. MacKnight has not previously held office. This year, a financial discrepancy of 847,335 dollars was discovered by a third party auditor in the city; no wrongdoing was found, and the discrepancy was eventually attributed to years of inaccurate bookkeeping.
In Elsmere, in Kenton County, 16 year incumbent Mayor Marty Lenhof won with 788 votes to Eric Bunzow's 775, a margin of 13 votes. Bunzow said he will not ask for a recount, saying he trusts the system, that he worked it and he lost.
In Erlanger, also in Kenton County, Mayor Jessica Fette won reelection with 2,877 votes to City Councilwoman Diana Niceley's 2,821, a margin of 56 votes. Niceley told The Enquirer she would not ask for a recount, saying she trusts the Kenton County Board of Elections wholeheartedly.
Source: The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Photo: 图：肯塔基州肯顿县法院（资料图，本稿两场市长选举所在的县）。图中是肯顿县法院建筑。作者与授权：W.marsh，CC BY-SA 3.0，维基共享资源。 / Photo: The Kenton County Courthouse, Kentucky. Wikimedia Commons (W.marsh, CC BY-SA 3.0).
