After millions of dollars spent by each side in the 2024 election, the balance of power in the Kentucky General Assembly is likely to remain the same, with Republicans maintaining an identical supermajority in each chamber.
In the Kentucky House, Republicans are likely to maintain their 80-20 supermajority, after they appear to have narrowly defeated the only member of Democratic leadership to run for reelection, yet also lost a seat to Democrats by a close margin — both in the Lexington suburbs.
Rep. Cherylnn Stevenson of Lexington, the caucus chair of House Democrats, was 214 votes behind her Republican challenger Vanessa Grossl after nearly all of the votes from the district were counted Tuesday night. The Associated Press had not yet called the race as of 11:30 p.m.
Democratic candidate Adam Moore also appears to have flipped a GOP House seat in Lexington back into their column, picking up just 131 more votes than Republican Thomas Jefferson after nearly all of the votes were counted. Jefferson, part of the GOP’s small-government “liberty” faction, had defeated incumbent Rep. Killian Timoney in the primary, a moderate Republican.
Kentucky Democrats also appear to have held onto their only remaining House seats in northern and eastern Kentucky.
In northern Kentucky, Democrat Matthew Lehman had a razor-thin advantage over Republican Terry Hatton — just 30 votes. The margin of victory was close enough that there could be a recanvass or recount of the vote in the coming week. The seat is currently held by Rep. Rachel Roberts, a member of House Democratic leadership who chose not to run for reelection.
Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty, a Democrat from Martin, held onto the party’s last House seat in eastern Kentucky, defeating Republican challenger Brandon Spencer by 13 percentage points.
The three most expensive House races were all in Jefferson County, but did not result in any seats being flipped.
GOP Rep. Ken Fleming of Louisville won a third consecutive term, defeating Democratic challenger Kate Farrow by seven percentage points. Two first term Republican incumbents in Louisville also held onto their seats, with Rep. Emily Callaway defeating Democrat and local Teamsters president John Stovall by 13 percentage points, while Rep. Susan Witten edged Democrat Colleen Davis by just 340 votes.
Also in Louisville, first term Democratic Rep. Rachel Roarx also held onto her seat by a narrow margin, defeating Republican challenger Carrie Sanders McKeehan by 250 votes.
No seats appear to have flipped in the Kentucky Senate, where Republicans hold a 31-7 majority, though several counties were still counting write-in votes late into Tuesday night in one peculiar race.
Both parties quickly turned their attention to Senate District 29 in far eastern Kentucky, after Republican Sen. Johnnie Turner died shortly after he drove a lawn mower into an empty pool. Because of the proximity to the election, the seat went to the winner of a hotly contested write-in campaign with 11 candidates who filed to run less than two weeks before the election. By 10:30 p.m., Associated Press estimated only 5% of the votes counted.
Several Republican incumbents in the Senate were able to win by comfortable margins against Democratic challengers who received financial backing from their party.
Sen. Chris McDaniel of Ryland Heights, the GOP chairman of the Senate budget committee, won 60% of the vote in his northern Kentucky district, defeating Democratic opponent Jennifer Sierra. McDaniel was backed by $378,000 of ad spending by GOP groups.
GOP Sen. Stephen West of Paris also won reelection with 63% of the vote, defeating Democratic challenger Molly Crain.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
