Williams Appointed as Judge

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Update: David Williams said he'll run for election to the 40th Circuit Court judgeship in 2014.

Update: David Williams' appointment to the 40th Circuit judgeship will be effective Nov. 2.

Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed his rival David Williams, the state Senate president, to the 40th Circuit Judgeship. Williams, of Burkesville, was nominated on Thursday by the Judicial Nominating Commission, alongside Angela M. Capps and Stephen Douglas Hurt.

Capps is the Clinton County public defender, and Hurt is a senior judge who retired in 2009 from a district judgeship, a state news release said. In a statement released Thursday after the nomination, Williams said he'd take the job if appointed.

Williams has been the Republican leader in the Kentucky State Senate since 1999, and a state Senate president since 2000.  Last year, Beshear and his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, beat Williams and his running mate, then-state agriculture commissioner Richie Farmer, by 20 percentage points