Les Yates

Les Yates was born in Eastern Kentucky, and joined the United States Air Force after graduating from high school.^[1] From 1971 to 1975, he served as an aircraft electrician and was deployed to Germany and Arizona.^[1][2] Afterwards, he attended Arizona State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.^[1][2] For eighteen years afterwards, he worked in Phoenix.^[1]

Yates was defeated in the 2016 Republican primary for Kentucky's 73rd House district, garnering 375 votes (20.8%) against incumbent Donna Mayfield.^[3] Mayfield initially filed to run for reelection in 2018, but withdraw before the Republican primary.^[4] After this, Yates received the Republican nomination unopposed and won the general election with 10,856 votes (64.3%) against Democratic nominee Pat Brooks.^[5] Yates was defeated for renomination in the 2020 Republican primary, garnering 2,228 votes (48.6%) against Ryan Dotson.^[6]

Yates won the 2022 Republican primary for Judge/Executive of Clark County against Greg Elkins, and won the general election against Democratic nominee Justin Charles.^[1]

In January 2026, Yates filed to run for his former House seat instead of reelection following Dotson's decision to run for congress. Yates subsequently resigned as judge/executive on March 3 in order to focus on the election.^[7] Yates will face Daniel Konstantopoulos for the Republican nomination in the 2026 Kentucky House of Representatives election.^[8]