WHAS11: Mike o’Connell Endorses for county Attorney
April 3, 2025 - The longest-serving Jefferson County Attorney in at least 120 years plans to retire when his term ends next year.
Mike O'Connell, 75, announced Thursday he will not seek reelection after his current term ends in 2026. He's now endorsing Sarah Martin to take his place a year ahead of the election.
"The County Attorney's Office is too important to retire without a sound path forward," O'Connell said in a statement. "This is not a position that can be filled by just any attorney, It requires a specific skill set and our community understandably has high expectations of professionalism and hard work that I know Sarah Martin can meet."
Martin joined the Jefferson County Attorney's Office in 2008 as an assistant county attorney. She is now the office's Civil Division director. She's also served as lead attorney for Louisville Metro Council and as a Civil Rights Attorney for the Human Relations Commission, where she tried the first hate crime case under Louisville's anti-discrimination ordinance, officials said.
O'Connell was appointed to the role of Jefferson County Attorney in 2008 and has since been elected four times.
"Frankly, there has never been a day at the Jefferson County Attorney's Office that I wished I was working somewhere else," he added. "It has never happened. I have great affection and respect for the office and its people."