After eight months of legal challenges and appeals across two counties and each level of the state’s judicial system, the Kentucky Supreme Court put an official end to the effort to remove Democratic state Rep. Nima Kulkarni of Louisville from the ballot next month.
In a unanimous ruling, the court ruled that Kulkarni will remain an eligible general election candidate on the ballot for her Louisville district, affirming lower court rulings and actions by Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.
The appeal was brought by William Zeitz, her only Democratic challenger in the May primary, and Dennis Horlander, the former longtime Democratic state representative who was unseated by Kulkarni in the 2018 primary.
James Craig, Kulkarni’s attorney, said the ruling was “a big and final win” for his client, but also “a bigger win for democracy.”
“Kentucky House District 40 voters chose her by a wide margin in the primary, and we’ve been to two circuit courts and the Kentucky Supreme Court to save their voice,” Craig said. “Today’s unanimous decision protects the voices of the voters.”
Steven Megerle, the attorney for Zeitz and Horlander, conceded that the legal challenge has run its course with the high court ruling, but suggested that the Kentucky General Assembly may not vote to seat her when they convene for the 2025 legislative session in January.
“I hope there might just be a robust discussion by that branch to finally determine whether Nirupama Kulkari or William Zeitz should be seated for the people of House District 40,” Megerle said.
Responding to Megerle’s statement, Craig said the challengers “lost their effort to steal this election in the courts” and that “suggesting that they try to steal it in the General Assembly is dangerous.”
“I don’t believe either (political) party would entertain such a dangerous notion,” Craig said. “Voters will make an informed decision on Nov. 5, and the General Assembly will honor their votes.”
Kulkarni faces no Republican challenger in the general election.
Horlander started the long and winding road of legal challenges to Kulkarni’s candidacy in March, when he filed a petition in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking to disqualify her from the Democratic primary due to a filing error — as one of her signatories was a registered Republican at the time.
Horlander’s petition was dismissed, but later granted by a unanimous decision in the Kentucky Court of Appeals just days before the primary, which disqualified her.
The Kentucky Supreme Court stayed that appeals court ruling the day before the primary election, allowing it to go forward until the justices could review the case. Kulkarni won the primary over Zeitz with 78% of the vote.
However, the Supreme Court issued an order in June siding with the appeals court, ruling that Kulkarni was disqualified and voiding the primary. The high court released their full opinion in August, after which Adams said he would declare a vacancy in the race and direct the local Democratic and Republican parties to choose general election nominees.
A committee of the Louisville Democratic party quickly selected Kulkarni as its nominee, while the Jefferson County Republican Party declined to select a general election candidate.
Megerle then filed a new complaint in Franklin Circuit Court with both Zeitz and Horlander as the plaintiffs, seeking to block Adams from declaring a vacancy in the race and an order declaring Zeitz the rightful Democratic nominee for the general election.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd denied the motion to disqualify Kulkarni in September, which was subsequently affirmed by unanimous decisions in the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.
The unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court this week was deemed “not to be published,” which means it cannot be cited or used as binding precedent for any other legal case in Kentucky.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
