Kentucky Political News Headlines

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

2023 Kentucky Election Results





2023 Kentucky Election Results

All eyes were on Kentucky today as Democratic incumbent Governor Andy Beshear fought to keep his seat against sitting GOP Attorney General Daniel Cameron in what was the most expensive Governor's race in the state's history. 


Up until the week before the election, most polls showed Governor Beshear holding the lead. However, last week, a poll came out showing the race neck-and-neck headed into election day. Ultimately, Governor Beshear was able to hold the Governor's Mansion by a 53%-47% margin (based on unofficial results). Most notably Beshear won several key counties including: Boyle, Bourbon, Scott, Madison, Henderson, Warren, and Daviess. 


In terms of the election's outcome on the 2024 General Assembly, we'll likely continue to see the Republican-led legislature face off with the Governor, which will likely include differing opinions about many budget and legislative priorities. This means the Legislature will continue to do their most important work before the veto recess period in order to preserve their veto override power.


Additionally, the down-ticket races held few surprises as Republicans continue to control all seats (all results unofficial as of 10pm):


Attorney General: Republican Russell Coleman, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, beat sitting Democratic Kentucky House member Pamela Stevenson, a retired Air Force colonel, by a 58%-42% margin.

 

Secretary of State: Sitting Republican incumbent Secretary Michael Adams held off a challenge from Democratic State House member Buddy Wheatley by a 61%-39% margin. Adams was also the leading vote-getter of any candidate based on unofficial results.

 

Auditor of Public Accounts: Term-limited Republican State Treasurer Allison Ball won her race against Democrat Kim Reeder, a tax attorney, by a 61%-39% margin.

 

Commissioner of Agriculture: Former Republican State House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell, a farmer, handily won his race against Democrat Sierra Enlow, an economic development advisor, by a 59%-41% margin.

 

State Treasurer: Republican Mark Metcalfe, the sitting Garrard County attorney, won his challenge against Democrat Michael Bowman, who was the 2019 Democratic nominee for State Treasurer, by a 57%-43% margin.

 

HOUSE SPECIAL ELECTION

Earlier this summer, Representative Lamin Swann of the 93rd District in Fayette County passed away unexpectedly. Democrat Adrielle Camuel, a school administrator, came out ahead with a 58%-42% margin in the fight against Republican Kyle Whalen, a home builder.


LOOKING AHEAD

Stay tuned for an upcoming session preview from Government Strategies in which we'll delve a little deeper into the nuances of the election results and their implications for Kentucky.




Tuesday, May 16, 2023

2023 KY PRIMARY RESULTS






2023 KY PRIMARY RESULTS

Kentuckians went to the polls today to vote in the 2023 Primary, casting ballots for party nominees ahead of the November General Election. This year's ballot consisted of the state-wide constitutional officers, including the Governor, and an open State Senate seat in the 28th District. 


In the Commonwealth's top race, Governor Andy Beshear easily defeated token opposition pulling more than 90% of the vote. This fall, he will face Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who came out on top in a competitive race for the GOP nomination.


For more information on each candidate listed below, please refer to our Primary Election Preview. Just a reminder that the election results reported below are unofficial, with 95% reporting as of this writing.


Governor


Democrats


Governor Andy Beshear  91%

Geoff Young  5%

Peppy Martin  4%


Republicans


Daniel Cameron 48%

Ryan Quarles  22%

Kelly Craft  17%

Eric Deters  6%

Mike Harmon  2%

Alan Keck  2%

6 others combined for 3%


Secretary of State


Republicans


Michael Adams  64% 

Steve Knipper  26%

Allan Maricle  10%


Democrats


Buddy Wheatley (unopposed)  


Auditor of Public Accountants


Republicans


Allison Ball  72%


Derek Petteys  28%



Democrats


Kim Reeder (unopposed)


Commissioner of Agriculture


Republicans


Jonathan Shell  57%

Richard Heath  43%


Democrats


Sierra Enlow 59%

Mikael Malone  41%


State Treasurer


Republicans


Mark Metcalf  51%

Andrew Cooperrider  29%

OJ Oleka  20%


Democrats


Michael Bowman (unopposed)


Attorney General


Republicans


Russell Coleman (unopposed)


Democrats


Pamela Stevenson (unopposed) 


28th State Senate District

Republican candidate, Greg Elkins, defeated the Democratic nominee Robert Sainte and independent Richard Henderson. Elkins won the race with 50 percent of the votes. This seat was vacated by Ralph Alvarado, who resigned earlier this year after an appointment by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.



We will have more election analysis in the days ahead.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

2022 Kentucky Election Results





2022 ELECTION RESULTS

Kentuckians went to the polls today to vote on a lengthy ballot for a midterm election that saw a few surprising developments:


1. Constitutional Amendments BOTH (Appear to Be) Voted Down

2. 5 State House Incumbents Beaten (All Democrats)

3. GOP supermajorities GROW in State House by 5 seats & State Senate by 1 seat

4. TWO New Faces on State Supreme Court

5. GOP sweeps Federal Races; Except for McGarvey


See below for the unofficial election results available at the time of this writing.      


Constitutional Amendments

Both constitutional amendment proposals approved during the 2022 Regular Session were on the ballot today and both appear to be narrowly defeated with 80% of the vote in as of 11:00pm EST.

 

Amendment 1 (NO 54%-YES 46%)

Would have changed the legislative session's meeting dates and allowed the General Assembly to call themselves into a special session. This ballot question was very long and may have confused voters as there was a campaign in opposition to the amendment that linked it to higher pay for legislators.

 

Amendment 2 (NO 53%- YES 47%)

Would have provided that nothing in the state constitution protects or secures a right to abortion. There were active media and initiative GOTV campaigns on both sides of this issue. 

 

State Legislative Elections

Going into tonight's election results, most were predicting the GOP to grow their supermajorities in the State House and Senate, but the size and the number of incumbents that might lose were the big unknowns. 


Pre-election, Republicans controlled the House (75-25) and the Senate (30-8). Those margins increased today, with Republicans gaining 5 Seats in the House, giving them an 80-20 supermajority, and gaining 1 Seat in the Senate, giving them a 31-7 supermajority.


Republicans managed their gain in House seats by beating 5 Democratic incumbents and winning one open seat previously controlled by a Democrat. On the other side Democrats flipped one seat, a GOP open seat that was newly redistricted to Lexington. This Senate spreadsheet and House spreadsheet has a full list of winners in bold, but a few of those key House races to bring to your attention:


20th - Jackson (R) flip over Minter

28th - Bauman (R) flip over C. Miller

31st - Witten (R) flip in (D) open seat

37th - Callaway (R) flip over Donahue

65th - Dietz (R) flip over Wheatley

93rd - Swann (D) flip in open seat

94th - Justice (R) flip over Hatton


TAKEAWAYS: After the incumbent losses in the primary and a large number of legislative retirements this year we have 31 new members of the 138-member General Assembly (25 in House & 6 in Senate). We all have a lot of new people to get to know.      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

After this election, more than 80 percent of the House and over 70 percent of the Senate are members with less than 10 years of experience in the Kentucky General Assembly. A major loss of institutional knowledge comes with young blood, and while we'll see many new ideas come with the new members, much groundwork will need to be done to educate the caucuses.

 

Now that elections are over, the House and Senate caucuses will meet in the next few weeks to elect their new leadership teams. The House Republicans will be electing a new Majority Whip with the retirement of Rep. Chad McCoy; the House Democrats will need to fill two vacancies left by retiring Minority Floor Leader Joni Jenkins and Minority Whip Angie Hatton, who lost her election; and the Senate Democrats are losing leaders with Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey's election to Congress and the retirement of their Minority Whip Dennis Parrett. 

 

Supreme Court Races 

Kentucky has a seven-member Supreme Court elected in individual districts so a majority–four of the districts–were up for election tonight and there will be some new faces on the court.

 

- 1st District: Justice Nickell was unopposed.

- 2nd District: Thompson defeated Alcott; open seat

- 4th District: Bisig defeated Bowman; open seat 

- 6th District: Incumbent Keller defeated Fischer


We would encourage you to review this spreadsheet for more information but wanted to highlight this as the Supreme Court can often have a huge impact on issues affecting your business or organization.

 

Federal Races

In most states, a U.S. Senate race and an open Congressional seat would lead the headlines on election night, but an anticipated strong win for U.S. Senator Rand Paul and easy win in the 3rd Congressional District for Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky's newest congressman didn't make for much drama. Here are the Federal race unofficial winners:


U.S. Senate: Republican incumbent Rand Paul

U.S. House District 1: Republican incumbent James Comer

U.S. House District 2: Republican incumbent Brett Guthrie

U.S. House District 3: Former state senator Democrat Morgan McGarvey; won open seat 

U.S. House District 4: Republican incumbent Thomas Massie

U.S. House District 5: Republican incumbent Hal Rogers

U.S. House District 6: Republican incumbent Andy Barr


Looking Ahead

Stay tuned for additional updates from Government Strategies about the results of caucus leadership elections, 2023 committee makeup, and more in our 2023 Session Preview.



Wednesday, November 2, 2022

LRC Study on Alternative Ratemaking Mechanisms

The Legislative Research Commission in Frankfort yesterday released its study on Alternative Ratemaking Mechanisms put together by LRC staff. You can access a copy HERE

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

KY Gov. Beshear Calls Special Session


Good afternoon,

 

Earlier today Gov. Beshear announced his call for the convening of a Special Session of the Kentucky General Assembly to address relief from the recent Eastern KY flooding. The session will begin no earlier than noon ET on Wednesday, August 24. However, both House and Senate leaders have announced they will convene at 3:00pm ET. The Special Session is expected to adjourn on Friday, August 26.

 

You can find a PDF of the proclamation here.

 

The Special Session's focus will be narrow, only addressing the following items per the Governor's call:

 

• Establishes, appropriates funding to, and provides for the administration of the Eastern Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (EKSAFE) fund;

• Amends the statute relating to the West Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (WKSAFE) fund, in particular by extending the date of the fund through June 30, 2026; and

• Provides relief to Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the flooding emergency, in particular by relaxing requirements relating to the number of student attendance days, leave for teachers, and remote instruction, and provides relief to Western and Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the tornado and flooding emergencies by setting forth new requirements relating to average daily attendance for SEEK funding.


In order to get the legislation to the Governor by Friday, we expect the legislature to use an expedited legislative process where bills with mirroring language will simultaneously proceed through both the House and Senate before culminating in a single bill. 

 

You can watch the proceedings live on KET at www.ket.org/legislature.

 

We will continue to provide updates throughout the session.