Republican John F. Hodgson leads Democrat William “Woody” Zorn by 100 votes in southeast Louisville’s House District 36, with 10,389 votes to Zorn’s 10,289. The margin triggers an automatic, state-funded recount under Kentucky law. Hodgson helped pass the law that now applies to his race.
The margin is within Kentucky’s 0.5% threshold for an automatic recount, according to shayinformed.com. The report says that after Jefferson County certifies its results and sends them to the Secretary of State, the Kentucky State Board of Elections is expected to order the clerk’s office to conduct the recount. District 36 covers Eastwood, Fisherville and parts of Jeffersontown in southeast Louisville.
A Law the Winner Helped Write
The Jefferson County Clerk’s Office said Hodgson helped pass and advocated for the automatic recount law a couple of years ago. He previously served as former Gov. Matt Bevin’s operations director and won an unopposed House election in 2022. Hodgson told WHAS11 that Kentucky had overhauled its election laws in recent years and ranked in the top fifth nationally in election integrity.
Hodgson told WHAS11 the recount was scheduled to begin Monday, November 16. Separately, Kentucky’s canvass—the required review of returns used to establish official results—is not itself a recount, according to kentucky.com.
How Kentucky’s recount rules work
Kentucky law requires an automatic recount when a candidate for a covered office, including the General Assembly, loses by no more than 0.5% of the votes cast for that office. For covered offices other than Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the recount must begin by 9 a.m. local time on the second Tuesday after the election, according to the Kentucky General Assembly. That deadline is later than the Monday, November 16, start Hodgson described to WHAS11. A recanvass is a different procedure: Kentucky law says the county board rechecks the vote cast without unlocking the voting equipment. The statute distinguishes that process from a recount authorized under KRS Chapter 120, according to the Kentucky General Assembly.
Turnout Swings and a Narrowing Gap
WHAS11 reported that Republican turnout in Hodgson’s race was 35% lower than previously, while Democratic turnout in Zorn’s race was down 10%. Zorn nevertheless closed a 4,000-vote gap compared with prior results. He told the station he did not know whether the recount would change anything, and said one more day of campaigning could have let him knock on 101 more doors.
Zorn also faced a close result in his 2024 primary: he said it went to a recanvass after he was separated from Colin Daugherty McDowell by five votes. Kentucky Lantern confirmed the five-vote margin and reported that two recanvassed races that cycle saw no change in their outcomes. Zorn said he believes the district will remain competitive two years from now, whether he or someone else is the Democratic nominee.
A Broader Shift in Kentucky's Statehouse
The tight District 36 contest arrives amid a broader shakeup in Frankfort. Democrats flipped nine statehouse seats statewide in the 2026 general election, including two state Senate seats, though Republicans' supermajority in the General Assembly remained unchanged, Kentucky Lantern reported. The seed facts also note that former Gov. Matt Bevin lost his 2019 race to Andy Beshear by a 0.37% margin, roughly 5,000 votes — a reminder that narrow Kentucky elections are not unprecedented, even if a 100-vote margin is especially rare. For now, District 36 voters wait to see whether the recount scheduled for mid-November changes the outcome or simply confirms it.
