Hulsey, Paschal headed to runoff for District 73 Republican nomination

Published 9:51 pm Tuesday, March 30, 2021

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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

In a tight battle between five candidates, Leigh Hulsey and Kenneth Paschal are headed to a runoff to determine who will win the Republican nomination for the House District 73 General Election in July.

None of the five candidates got the necessary 50 percent to become the outright winner on Tuesday, March 30, which put the top two vote getters in a spot of advancing to a runoff.

Those two were Hulsey and Paschal, who received a combined 1,736 of the 3,000 votes cast.

Hulsey received the highest percentage at 30.77 percent after getting 923 votes, while Paschal received 27.10 percent of the vote or 813 total votes.

They edged out George Henry and Kerri Pate in a tight battle. Both Henry and Pate received more than 580 votes themselves with Henry receiving 590 (19.67 percent) and Pate 581 (19.37 percent).

Hulsey is a member of the Helena City Council where she has served for the past 12 years, while Paschal served 21 years in the Army and has served as a member of The Shelby County Chamber, a commander of the American Legion and was recently selected to join the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee.

Hulsey and Paschal will now move on to a runoff election slated for Tuesday, April 27. The winner will advance to take on Democratic candidate Sheridan Black, who was unopposed in the primary election, in the General Election.

With 69,873 registered voters in the area and only 4,077 ballots cast, the voter turnout for the day was 5.83 percent.

The General Election is set for this summer on Tuesday, July 13. The seat was previously held by Matt Fridy.