John David Preston

John David Preston (born December 29, 1950) is an American politician and author from Kentucky who served in various elected and judicial offices. He was a member of the Kentucky Senate from 1994 to 1997, representing Kentucky's 25th Senate district, which at the time included Johnson, Lawrence, and Boyd counties.

Early life and education Preston was born in Paintsville, Kentucky to J. Frank and Olga (Auxier) Preston. He graduated as valedictorian from Prestonsburg High School in 1969, and attended Harvard University on a scholarship. In 1973, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He returned to Kentucky, and graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1976. During his time at UK, Preston served as a member of the school's moot court board, law journal staff, and clerked for an attorney in Louisa, Kentucky.

After law school, Preston entered into a private practice.

Political career

Party leadership In April 1980, Preston was chosen as chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party. He also served as Johnson County campaign chairman for various campaigns such as former Governor Louie Nunn's unsuccessful reelection bid during the 1979 Kentucky gubernatorial election and Ronald Reagan during the 1980 United States presidential election.

Commonwealth's attorney In 1981, Preston won the Republican primary for Commonwealth's attorney of Kentucky's 24th judicial circuit with 5,477 votes (56%) against Paul D. Deaton, and would win the general election with 8,193 votes (57.1%) against Democratic candidate L. E. Spencer. At that time, Preston was the youngest person ever elected to serve in the position.

During his tenure, Preston was commended by then-judge/executive of Jefferson County Mitch McConnell for handling a backlog of four hundred felony cases, and modernizing his office into, "... the most proficient Commonwealth's Attorney office in Kentucky."

Paintsville city council and mayor In 1987, Preston chose to run for one of six seats on the Paintsville city council instead of seeking reelection as Commonwealth's attorney. Preston was the top vote-getter of the race, garnering 521 votes during the primary against thirteen candidates, and 581 votes during the general election against twelve candidates. After assuming office on January 5, 1988, he was chosen as mayor pro tempore.

However, he served only ten months before Paintsville Mayor Robert Wiley resigned and Preston was chosen by the council as his replacement in October 1988. He served the remainder of Wiley's unexpired term before winning his own full-term as mayor in November 1989. His tenure was noted for his attempts to alleviate prior financial troubles for the city as well as the expansion of water lines to rural areas of Johnson County. Governor Brereton C. Jones called for a special election for the seat to be held on March 8, which Preston would win with 6,776 votes (63%) against Democratic candidate Marcus Woodward. He assumed office on March 10, but struggled with the partisan divide in the Democratic controlled chamber. Preston later stated that his largest political regret was choosing to challenge Bailey instead of running for Kentucky's 97th House district, a favorable Republican seat then occupied by Democratic Representative Hubert Collins. He assumed office on December 28.

Preston was unopposed for reelection in 2014, winning with 11,841 votes. Preston did not seek reelection in 2022, retiring at the end of his term on January 2, 2023.

Forewords

Kentucky Archives: Johnson County Vital Statistics 1843-1904 (2013) 1890 Special Veterans Census for Eastern Kentucky (2013) The Founding of Harman's Station and the Wiley Captivity (1989)