Democratic Party primaries in Kentucky, 2026

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2024

Democratic Party primaries, 2026

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Primary Date
May 19, 2026

Federal elections
Democratic primaries for U.S. House

State party
Democratic Party of Kentucky
State political party revenue

This page focuses on the Democratic primaries that will take place in Kentucky on May 19, 2026.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Kentucky utilizes a closed primary process, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.[1][2][3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Federal elections

U.S. Senate

See also: United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026 (May 19 Democratic primary)

A Democratic Party primary takes place on May 19, 2026, in Kentucky to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky

Logan Forsythe, Jared Randall, Pamela Stevenson, Vincent Thompson, and Joel Willett are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 19, 2026.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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U.S. House

See also: United States House elections in Kentucky, 2026 (May 19 Democratic primaries)
The U.S. House of Representatives elections in Kentucky are scheduled on November 3, 2026. Voters will elect six candidates to serve in the U.S. House from each of the state's six U.S. House districts. The primary is May 19, 2026. The filing deadline is January 9, 2026. To see a full list of candidates in the primary in each district, click "Show more" below.
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District 1

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey

District 2

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey

District 3

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

District 4

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey

District 5

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

District 6

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

Note: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

State elections

State Senate

See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2026
Elections for the Kentucky State Senate will take place in 2026. The general election is on November 3, 2026. The primary is May 19, 2026. The filing deadline is January 9, 2026. To see a full list of state Senate candidates in the Democratic primaries, click "Show more" below.
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Kentucky State Senate elections, 2026

  • Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name.
  • The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
  • Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office Democratic Party Democratic Republican Party Republican Other
District 2
District 4


Robby Mills (i)

District 6


Lindsey Tichenor (i)

District 8


Gary Boswell (i)

District 10


Matthew Deneen (i)

District 12

Bill O'Brien


District 14



Did not make the ballot:
Jimmy Higdon (i)

District 16
District 18
District 20


Gex Williams (i)

District 22


Donald Douglas (i)

District 24


Shelley Funke Frommeyer (i)

District 26
District 28


Greg Elkins (i)

District 30
District 32


Mike Wilson (i)

District 34


Jared Carpenter (i)

District 36


Julie Raque Adams (i)

District 38


Mike Nemes (i)
Larry Miller


House of Representatives

See also: Kentucky House of Representatives elections, 2026
Elections for the Kentucky House of Representatives will take place in 2026. The general election is on November 3, 2026. The primary is May 19, 2026. The filing deadline is January 9, 2026. To see a full list of state House candidates in the Democratic primaries, click "Show more" below.
Show more

Kentucky House of Representatives elections, 2026

  • Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name.
  • Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
  • The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
  • Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office Democratic Party Democratic Republican Party Republican Other
District 1


Steven Rudy (i)

District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10


Josh Calloway (i)
Julie Cantwell

District 11


J.T. Payne (i)

District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15


Rebecca Raymer (i)

District 16
District 17
District 18


Samara Heavrin (i)

District 19


Michael Meredith (i)

District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28


Jared Bauman (i)

District 29


Chris Lewis (i)

District 30

Cassie Lyles  Candidate Connection
Max Morley  Candidate Connection


District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34

Sarah Stalker (i)


District 35

Lisa Willner (i)


District 36
District 37
District 38

Rachel Roarx (i)

Carrie Sanders McKeehan

District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42

Joshua Watkins (i)


District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
District 49
District 50
District 51
District 52
District 53
District 54
District 55
District 56
District 57
District 58
District 59
District 60
District 61
District 62
District 63
District 64
District 65
District 66


T.J. Roberts (i)

District 67
District 68
District 69


Steven Doan (i)

District 70


Greg Toller

District 71
District 72
District 73
District 74
District 75
District 76
District 77
District 78
District 79

Chad Aull (i)


District 80


David Meade (i)

District 81

Anthony Looney


District 82


Nick Wilson (i)

District 83


Joshua Branscum (i)

District 84
District 85
District 86


Tom Smith (i)

District 87
District 88


Vanessa Grossl (i)

District 89
District 90
District 91

David Johnson

Darrell Billings

District 92
District 93

Adrielle Camuel (i)


District 94


Mitchum Whitaker (i)

District 95
District 96
District 97
District 98


Aaron Thompson (i)

District 99
District 100

Voting information

See also: Voting in Kentucky

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.


Context of the 2026 elections

Kentucky Party Control: 1992-2025
Eight years of Democratic trifectas  •  Three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D
Senate D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R

State party overview

Democratic Party of Kentucky

See also: Democratic Party of Kentucky


State political party revenue

See also: State political party revenue and State political party revenue per capita

State political parties typically deposit revenue in separate state and federal accounts in order to comply with state and federal campaign finance laws.

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party maintain state affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories. The following map displays total state political party revenue per capita for the Democratic state party affiliates.


Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of 120 Kentucky counties—0.83 percent—is a pivot county. Pivot counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 pivot counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Elliott County, Kentucky 44.13% 2.50% 25.17%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Kentucky with 62.5 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 32.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1792 and 2016, Kentucky voted Democratic 45.6 percent of the time and Republican 26.3 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Kentucky voted Republican all five times.[4]

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Kentucky. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[5][6]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 18 out of 100 state House districts in Kentucky with an average margin of victory of 24.5 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 18 out of 100 state House districts in Kentucky with an average margin of victory of 25 points. Clinton won one district controlled by a Republican heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 82 out of 100 state House districts in Kentucky with an average margin of victory of 32.8 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 82 out of 100 state House districts in Kentucky with an average margin of victory of 42 points. Trump won 20 districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.


See also


External links

Footnotes