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.

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.

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. 

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.

KY Primary Election Results from Government Strategies

KENTUCKY PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS

Kentuckians went to the polls today for the 2022 primary elections to determine party nominees for the general election in November. While most incumbents won their primary elections handily this evening, some did succumb to the political rhetoric levied by their opponents and the outside groups that stormed Kentucky these past few weeks with political ads in mailboxes and on the airwaves.

 

This primary season was marked by the strong emergence of so-called "liberty caucus" candidates. These candidates were especially strong in more urban areas, marking a notable change in the activist base in the Republican party with many primary elections focusing on very right-leaning issues.

 

Northern Kentucky especially saw a rise in the liberty caucus candidates, and several prominent House Republican incumbents fell to their far-right opponents. Judiciary Chairman Ed Massey, Licensing & Occupations Chairman Adam Koenig, and Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation Committee Chairman Sal Santoro could not overcome their primary challengers. In total 6 incumbents lost their election bids: 5 GOP members (Koenig, Santoro, Massey, Bechler, Kirk-McCormick) and 1 Democrat member (Burch).

 

With several prominent House chairmen losing their primary elections or retiring from the body there will be many new faces leading key committees, including: State Government, Licensing & Occupations, Banking & Insurance, Budget Review on Transportation, and Judiciary.

 

There were no upsets among Senate incumbents, as Senator Donald Douglas defeated his opponent in the 22^nd Senate District which was expected to be a close race.  Former state senator, Gex Williams, won a crowded Republican primary in the 20^th Senate district and will face Teresa Barton in November.

 

The main Congressional seat in question was that of retiring Chairman John Yarmuth, whose sudden retirement quickly opened the door for State Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey. McGarvey faced off against State Representative Attica Scott, who had announced for the seat before Yarmuth's retirement. McGarvey won the race by a wide margin and will likely be the favorite in the General Election this fall.

 

Last week we previewed some of the most competitive state House and Senate races, and we've outlined the results of those races below.

 

House Races (All House primary winners can be viewed in this spreadsheet in bold*)

*Results for House District 41 and House District 43 were still outstanding at this writing.

 

- District 1: Republican House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy, a farm store owner from Paducah, handily won his race against Christopher Tucker, a farmer from Clinton.

- District 12: Representative Jim Gooch, an insurance agent and the current House Natural Resources & Energy Committee chairman from Providence, emerged victorious against Representative Lynn Bechler, a retiree from Marion in the Republican primary. Their individual districts were combined during redistricting this year – one of four races that pit incumbents against each other.

- District 18: Representative Samara Heavrin, one of the youngest members of the House majority and a small business owner, held off a challenge from Jacob Clark, a minister from Leitchfield, in the Republican primary. This was considered one of the most competitive primary races.

- District 24: House Appropriations and Revenue Vice Chairman Brandon Reed beat his challenger Courtney Gilbert of Hodgenville, who is a music teacher. Notably, Gilbert is the sister of State Senator Adrienne Southworth, considered one of the most far-right state senators in office.

- District 30: Longtime Louisville Democratic Representative Tom Burch, a retiree who has served in the House nearly continuously since 1972, could not overcome a strong challenge from Daniel Grossberg, an entrepreneur.

- District 59: Republican Speaker of the House David Osborne, a business owner, easily won his primary against Bridgette Ehly, a homemaker.

- District 60: Representative Sal Santoro of Union, a small business owner, lost his Republican nomination to fellow Union resident, former speech pathologist Marianne Proctor.

- District 66: Representative Ed Massey of Hebron, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was unseated by Steve Rawlings, an attorney from Burlington in the Republican primary.

- District 69: Representative Adam Koenig of Erlanger, the chairman of the House Licensing and Occupations Committee, lost in his challenge from Steven Doan, an attorney also from Erlanger, in the Republican primary. Doan was endorsed by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie. This was the most competitive House primary race this May.

- District 97: Sitting Republican Representative Bobby McCool, a retired teacher from Van Lear, beat out Rep. Norma Kirk-McCormick, a retiree from Inez, for the newly drawn District 97 that paired two incumbents against each other.

Senate Races (All Senate primary winners can be viewed in this spreadsheet in bold)

- District 22: Senator Donald Douglas of Nicholasville, a physician, faced a tough challenge from Andrew Cooperrider, a business owner from Lexington, in the Republican primary. Congressman Massie endorsed Cooperrider over incumbent Douglas, who made waves early in the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns by refusing to close down his business or enforce health mandates.

- District 34: Senate Banking & Insurance Chairman Jared Carpenter, a builder and farmer from Berea, easily bested his challenger from the right, Rhonda Goode, a fitness instructor from Richmond.

 

Two open seats had several primary candidates, and the winner of these will each face a Democratic challenger in the fall:

- District 20: Gex Williams, a business consultant and former state senator, emerged victorious in the four-way primary for this open seat. Gex Williams is considered one of the liberty caucus candidates.

- District 24: Shelley Funke Frommeyer, a financial planner, won the three-way primary for the seat formerly held by Senate Economic Development Chairman Wil Schroder, who retired this year.

 

Please note that these are still considered unofficial, incomplete results until certified by the Secretary of State's office. For exact numbers on each race, please visit the Kentucky Secretary of State's website for official results.

 

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with questions and stay tuned for our upcoming 2022 Interim Preview.