Tom Emberton

Last updated
Tom Emberton
Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals
In office
1987–2004
Personal details
Born(1932-07-14)July 14, 1932
Tompkinsville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedOctober 20, 2022(2022-10-20) (aged 90)
Edmonton, Kentucky, U.S.
Political party Republican
SpouseJulia C. Emberton
Children2
Alma mater Western Kentucky University(BA)
University of Louisville School of Law (JD)
ProfessionLawyer, judge

Thomas Dale Emberton Sr. (July 14, 1932 — October 20, 2022) was an American politician and judge in the state of Kentucky. He was the Republican nominee for his state's governorship in the 1971 election. Of note, Mitch McConnell worked on his campaign. [1]

Emberton was born in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in 1932. After attending Western Kentucky University, he earned a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1962 and was admitted to the bar in that same year. He served as County Attorney for Metcalfe County from 1966 to 1967. [2] Backed by term-limited Governor Louie B. Nunn and Senator John Sherman Cooper, [3] Emberton lost to the Democratic Lieutenant Governor Wendell H. Ford, later a U.S. senator. Ford polled 470,720 votes (50.6 percent) to Emberton's 412,653 (44.3 percent). Former Democratic U.S. Senator and Governor Happy Chandler of Versailles received the remaining 39,493 votes (5.1 percent), running as an Independent.

Prior to his gubernatorial candidacy, Emberton served as a member of the Public Service Commission in the Nunn administration.

In 1980, Emberton ran in Kentucky's 5th congressional district but lost the primary to the eventual winner, Hal Rogers of Somerset in Pulaski County, who still holds the seat..

In 1987, Democratic Governor Wallace Wilkinson appointed Emberton to fill a vacancy on the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He held that position until his retirement in 2004. Emberton resided in Edmonton, the seat of Metcalfe County in southern Kentucky. [4]

On October 20, 2022, Emberton's home in Edmonton caught fire; he later died when he re-entered the burning home in an effort to save it. He was 90 years old. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendell Ford</span> American politician

Wendell Hampton Ford was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor and United States senator in Kentucky history. The Senate Democratic whip from 1991 to 1999, he was considered the leader of the state's Democratic Party from his election to governor in 1971 until he retired from the Senate in 1999. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving senator in Kentucky's history, a mark which was then surpassed by Mitch McConnell in 2009. He is the most recent Democrat to have served as a Senator from the state of Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louie Nunn</span> 52nd governor of Kentucky

Louie Broady Nunn was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlow Cook</span> American politician

Marlow Webster Cook was an American politician who served Kentucky in the United States Senate from his appointment in December 1968 to his resignation in December 1974. He was a moderate Republican.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Dee Huddleston</span> American politician from Kentucky

Walter Darlington "Dee" Huddleston was an American politician. He was a Democrat from Kentucky who represented the state in the United States Senate from 1973 until 1985. Huddleston lost his 1984 Senate re-election campaign to Mitch McConnell in an upset by 5269 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Breathitt</span> American politician

Edward Thompson Breathitt Jr. was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A member of one of the state's political families, he was the 51st Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1963 to 1967. After serving in World War II and graduating from the University of Kentucky, Breathitt worked on the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson, the senatorial campaign of Alben Barkley, and the gubernatorial campaign of Bert T. Combs. When Combs won the governorship in 1959, he appointed Breathitt as personnel commissioner, where he wrote legislation establishing the first merit system for state employees. He continued to hold appointive offices throughout Combs' tenure, and in 1962, Combs endorsed Breathitt to succeed him as governor.

Stephen Roberts Nunn is an American convicted murderer and former politician who served as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Family Services for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Owsley Stanley</span> American politician (1867–1958)

Augustus Owsley Stanley I was an American politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th governor of Kentucky and also represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. From 1903 to 1915, Stanley represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer. Beginning in 1904, he called for an antitrust investigation of the American Tobacco Company, claiming they were a monopsony that drove down prices for the tobacco farmers of his district. As a result of his investigation, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the breakup of the American Tobacco Company in 1911. Stanley also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust investigation of U.S. Steel, which brought him national acclaim. Many of his ideas were incorporated into the Clayton Antitrust Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Metcalfe (Kentucky politician)</span> American politician

Thomas Metcalfe, also known as Thomas Metcalf or as "Stonehammer", was a U.S. Representative, Senator, and the tenth Governor of Kentucky. He was the first gubernatorial candidate in the state's history to be chosen by a nominating convention rather than a caucus. He was also the first governor of Kentucky who was not a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Combs</span> American judge and politician (1911–1991)

Bertram Thomas Combs was an American jurist and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. After serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, he was elected the 50th Governor of Kentucky in 1959 on his second run for the office. Following his gubernatorial term, he was appointed to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Lyndon B. Johnson, serving from 1967 to 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Forgy</span> American politician (1939–2022)

Lawrence Eugene Forgy was an American Republican politician and gubernatorial candidate from Lexington, Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Kentucky

The 2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held to elect the Governor of Kentucky on November 4, 2003. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 32 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Kentucky

The 1971 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1971. Incumbent Republican Louie Nunn, was ineligible for a second term due to term limits, a rule that was later repealed in 1992.

Sara Walter Combs is a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, representing the 7th Appellate District. She was the first woman and the first judge from the 7th district to serve as chief judge of the Court of Appeals, holding that position from 2004 to 2010. She was also the first woman to sit on the Kentucky Supreme Court after being appointed by Governor Brereton Jones to fill a vacancy in 1993. She lost her bid for re-election later that year. She is the widow of former Kentucky Governor Bert T. Combs.

Walter Arnold Baker was an American lawyer and politician who served in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly, in the presidential administration of Ronald Reagan, and on the Kentucky Supreme Court. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Baker also served as a judge advocate general in the Kentucky Air National Guard for 20 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Iowa gubernatorial election</span>

The 2018 Iowa gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Republican Governor Kim Reynolds ran for election to a full term, facing Democratic businessman Fred Hubbell, Libertarian Jake Porter, and independent candidate Gary Siegwarth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States Senate election in Kentucky</span>

The 1972 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican Senator John Sherman Cooper retired, and Democratic State Senator Walter Dee Huddleston narrowly won the open seat over former Republican Governor Louie Nunn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Kentucky

The 1967 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1967. Republican nominee Louie Nunn defeated Democratic nominee Henry Ward with 51.20% of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1828 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span> Kentucky gubernatorial election

The 1828 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on August 4, 1828.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Texas gubernatorial election</span> Election for Governor of Texas

The 2022 Texas gubernatorial election will take place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Texas. Incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott is running for re-election to a third term. Gubernatorial primaries were held on March 1, 2022. Abbott won the Republican primary, while former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke won the Democratic primary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1832 Kentucky gubernatorial election</span> Kentucky gubernatorial election

The 1832 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on August 6, 1832.

References

  1. ↑ "Cook's Aide Joins Emberton". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 21 November 1970.
  2. ↑ "The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory". Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated. October 21, 1972 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Congressional Archives Carl Albert Center. "Thomas Emberton [Republican] 1971 Campaign Ad "John Sherman Cooper"". YouTube. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  4. ↑ http://preview.ussearch.com/preview/newsearch;jsessionid=8488FBB2DB4AF26C20E5AD6C75791391?searchFName=thomas&searchMName=d&searchLName=emberton&searchCity=&searchState=KY&searchApproxAge=73&adID=10002101&searchtab=people&x=50&y=11 [ dead link ]
  5. ↑ Dean, Kelly; Walters, Sarah (October 20, 2022). "Former Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Tom Emberton dies in house fire". WKBO News. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Tom Emberton, former judge and gubernatorial candidate, dies at 90". WCLU Radio. October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky
1971 		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.