The day before yesterday, there were two state legislative elections in Kentucky that will slightly change our 138-member legislature moving into January’s Legislative Session.

96th State House District - Carter and Lewis counties is now represented by Jill York (R), who won an election against Barry Webb (D).  This seat was vacated when Robin Webb won a special senate election earlier this year, leaving her old House seat vacant.

14th State Senate District (Marion, Mercer, Nelson, Taylor, Washington counties) is now represented by Jimmy Higdon (R), who won the election against Jodie Haydon (D).   This seat was vacated when former Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly accepted a judicial position earlier this year.

This election was watched closely from across the state because of its potential to move towards a shift in the controlling party of the Senate.

Republicans in both races performed much better than most people expected, taking both seats by comfortable margins. 

For KFTC’s part, we emailed and called members in these communities to ask that they learn about the candidates and go vote on Election Day, sending out a statewide call to action for our members across the state to contact their friends in these seven counties to ask them to do the same.

Higdon’s former House seat (Casey, Marion, Pulaski) will have to be filled soon and will likely be vacant for part of the legislative session, starting in January. 

We wish our new state legislators the best of luck and look forward to working with them next year.