Tom Emberton

Thomas Dale Emberton, Sr. (born 1932), is a retired Kentucky politician and judge who was the Republican nominee for his state's governorship in the 1971 election. Of note, Mitch McConnell worked on his campaign.[1]

Backed by term-limited Governor Louie B. Nunn, 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 resides in Edmonton, the seat of Metcalfe County in southern Kentucky.[2]