Billy Ray Wilson
Billy Ray Wilson (independent) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Kentucky's 5th Congressional District. He declared candidacy as a write-in for the general election scheduled on November 3, 2026.[source]
Wilson was a 2018 write-in candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 5th Congressional District of Kentucky.
Wilson was a 2016 write-in candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky.[1] Wilson was a 2014 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 5th Congressional District of Kentucky.[2] Wilson was defeated by Kenneth Stepp in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2014.[3]
Elections
2026
See also: Kentucky's 5th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. House Kentucky District 5
Ned Pillersdorf (D), Mikel Wein (Independent), and Billy Ray Wilson (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Ned Pillersdorf (D) | ||
| Mikel Wein (Independent) | ||
 | Billy Ray Wilson (Independent) (Write-in) | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary
The Democratic primary scheduled for May 19, 2026, was canceled. Ned Pillersdorf (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 without appearing on the ballot.
Republican primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5
Incumbent Hal Rogers (R), Benjamin Hurley (R), Brandon Monhollen (R), Jerry Shelton (R), and Kevin Smith (R) are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 on May 19, 2026.
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jacob Trimble (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2022
See also: United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Kentucky
Incumbent Rand Paul defeated Charles Booker, Charles Lee Thomason, and Billy Ray Wilson in the general election for U.S. Senate Kentucky on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Rand Paul (R) | 61.8 | 913,326 |
 | Charles Booker (D) | 38.2 | 564,311 | |
| Charles Lee Thomason (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 145 | ||
| Billy Ray Wilson (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 48 | |
| Total votes: 1,477,830 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- David Biery (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
Charles Booker defeated Joshua Blanton Sr., John Merrill, and Ruth Gao in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Charles Booker | 73.3 | 214,245 |
| Joshua Blanton Sr. | 10.6 | 30,980 | ||
 | John Merrill | 9.9 | 28,931 | |
 | Ruth Gao | 6.2 | 18,154 | |
| Total votes: 292,310 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rand Paul | 86.4 | 333,051 |
 | Val Fredrick | 3.6 | 14,018 | |
 | Paul Hamilton | 3.5 | 13,473 | |
| Arnold Blankenship | 2.6 | 10,092 | ||
 | Tami Stainfield | 2.5 | 9,526 | |
 | John Schiess | 1.4 | 5,538 | |
| Total votes: 385,698 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
Billy Ray Wilson ran as a write-in candidate.
General election
General election for U.S. House Kentucky District 5
Incumbent Hal Rogers defeated Kenneth Stepp in the general election for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Hal Rogers (R) | 78.9 | 172,093 |
 | Kenneth Stepp (D) | 21.0 | 45,890 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 34 | ||
| Total votes: 218,017 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5
Kenneth Stepp defeated Scott Sykes in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kenneth Stepp | 58.7 | 33,602 |
 | Scott Sykes | 41.3 | 23,644 | |
| Total votes: 57,246 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5
Incumbent Hal Rogers defeated Gerardo Serrano in the Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 5 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Hal Rogers | 84.2 | 75,601 |
 | Gerardo Serrano | 15.8 | 14,216 | |
| Total votes: 89,817 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated Kentucky's U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. Incumbent Rand Paul (R) defeated Jim Gray (D) and Billy Ray Wilson (Write-in) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Paul defeated James Gould and Stephen Howard Slaughter in the Republican primary, while Gray defeated six other challengers to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on May 17, 2016.[4][5][1]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Rand Paul Incumbent |
57.3% | 1,090,177 | |
| Democratic | Jim Gray | 42.7% | 813,246 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0% | 42 | |
| Total Votes | 1,903,465 | |||
| Source: Kentucky Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rand Paul Incumbent |
84.8% | 169,180 | ||
| James Gould | 8.3% | 16,611 | ||
| Stephen Slaughter | 6.9% | 13,728 | ||
| Total Votes | 199,519 | |||
| Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jim Gray |
58.7% | 240,598 | ||
| Sellus Wilder | 12.9% | 52,729 | ||
| Ron Leach | 9.5% | 39,026 | ||
| Tom Recktenwald | 5.3% | 21,910 | ||
| Grant Short | 5.3% | 21,558 | ||
| Jeff Kender | 4.9% | 20,237 | ||
| Rory Houlihan | 3.3% | 13,585 | ||
| Total Votes | 409,643 | |||
| Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections |
||||
2014
Wilson ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Kentucky's 5th District.[2] Wilson was defeated by Kenneth Stepp in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2014.[3]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Kenneth Stepp |
58.8% | 38,949 | ||
| Billy Ray Wilson | 41.2% | 27,246 | ||
| Total Votes | 66,195 | |||
| Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections |
||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Billy Ray Wilson has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Billy Ray Wilson, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 25,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
Help improve Ballotpedia - send us candidate contact info.
2022
Billy Ray Wilson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed September 6, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kentucky Secretary of State Election, "Candidate Filings," accessed January 28, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Associated Press, "Primary election results," accessed May 20, 2014
- ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed January 27, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Kentucky Results," May 17, 2016
