Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter will not run for reelection

The Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter, who took over the position this year, announced Tuesday he will not stay in that role for as long as his predecessor, as he will not seek reelection in 2024.

VanMeter, first elected to an eight-year term on the Supreme Court in 2016, was elected as chief justice by his colleagues last November and assumed the position Jan. 2. He succeeded former Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who served as as the high court's chief justice for 14 years, before declining to run for reelection in 2022.

In a statement, VanMeter said serving the people of his central Kentucky district on the court for the past seven years and being elected by his colleagues as chief justice have been "the greatest privileges of my professional life."

"However, the time is right for me to begin a new chapter and turn the reins over to someone else," VanMeter said. "I am announcing my decision now so that any qualified judges and lawyers can make the decision as to whether this office and consequent election campaign are appropriate for them."

VanMeter added that he will finish his term that runs through next year, expressing that he is "grateful and humbled by the trust of voters, my colleagues, and for the support of my family."

VanMeter is justice for the 5th Appellate Court District, comprised of Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford counties in central Kentucky.

The chief justice he has served at all four levels of Kentucky’s judiciary over the past three decades, elected to the positions of the Fayette District, Fayette Circuit, Kentucky Court of Appeals and Kentucky Supreme Court Justice.  VanMeter is just the third judge in Kentucky history to have held office at all four of these levels and the only one of those to have served as chief justice.

VanMeter's Supreme Court district is the only one scheduled to have an election in 2024.

Several judicial races in Kentucky's 2022 election featured both an unusual amount of outside PAC spending and hard-edged advertising that resembled partisan races, including the Supreme Court race in the 5th District between incumbent Justice Michelle Keller and challenger Joe Fischer. Total spending in that Supreme Court race was just shy of $1 million, with two outside partisan PACs collectively spending more than $700,000 on ads.

Asked by The Courier Journal if his decision not to run again had anything to do with the changing nature of nonpartisan judicial races in Kentucky and other states, VanMeter said it did not.

"This is purely a life balance decision based on what's right for me and my family," VanMeter said, noting that he fully intended to run again earlier this summer, but changed his calculation after the sudden death of a close friend.

"I thought about, 'Am I willing to serve the entire term that's upcoming?' And the more and more I thought about it, no, there's just other things I'd rather do," VanMeter said.

VanMeter also said his decision was not based on any desire to avoid ruling on significant cases that are coming down the pike. He said signaling his intention to retire well ahead of the 2024 election is "in fairness to the process, in fairness to people who want to run, in fairness to the voters."

As for the changing nature of judicial election, VanMeter said that voters prefer candidates who tout their judicial experience over partisanship.

"If you think about the races that were run last fall, the candidates who tried to inject overt partisanship into the races, they all lost right," VanMeter said. "And part of my analysis is that the voters in Kentucky are used to nonpartisan elections, and by and large they look for the candidate who has the most judicial experience."

Asked if he still had plans to run for another office or public service at some point in the future, VanMeter said "we'll have to see... more can be revealed later."

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice VanMeter won't run for reelection