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Ken Carroll
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Ken Carroll (independent) ran for election to the Kentucky State Senate to represent District 7. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Carroll completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ken Carroll was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University in 1978. Carroll’s career experience includes working in economic and talent development.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Kentucky State Senate District 7
Adrienne Southworth defeated Joe Graviss and Ken Carroll in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 7 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Adrienne Southworth (R)  | 52.6 | 33,187 |
 | Joe Graviss (D) | 43.1 | 27,205 | |
| Ken Carroll (Independent) | 4.3 | 2,699 | ||
| Total votes: 63,091 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Joe Graviss advanced from the Democratic primary for Kentucky State Senate District 7.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 7
Adrienne Southworth defeated Katie Howard, Calen Studler, Linda Thompson, and Cleaver Crawford in the Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 7 on June 23, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Adrienne Southworth | 31.1 | 3,701 |
 | Katie Howard | 26.5 | 3,157 | |
 | Calen Studler | 22.7 | 2,697 | |
 | Linda Thompson | 16.4 | 1,952 | |
| Cleaver Crawford | 3.3 | 390 | ||
| Total votes: 11,897 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ken Carroll completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Carroll's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My wife Jenny and I have been married for 43 years and we are very blessed to have lived on beautiful South Elkhorn Creek here in Franklin County, Kentucky since 1980. I am the only Independent candidate for Kentucky Senate District 7, which includes Anderson, Franklin, Gallatin, Owen, and Woodford counties, and the only father, grandfather, state government retiree and Franklin County resident in this race. My professional qualifications includes eight years of service with the Kentucky Legislature, nearly thirteen years with the Cabinet for Economic Development, nearly 3 years with the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, five years with the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers and over ten years of experience as a small business owner/operator. So why am I running as an Independent? Although I grew up as a conservative Democrat from Western Kentucky, the liberal Democratic Party left me, and I could no longer support their leftist causes. In addition, nearly six years ago I became tired of all the political rancor between the Democrats and Republicans and registered as an Independent. I decided that there has to be a better way to help create economic solutions which improve the lives of all Kentuckians.
- My extensive experience in economic and talent development would be a legislative asset to assist with the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan to help stand up the Commonwealth's economy.
- I am a proponent of restarting our local, state and national economies, and opening our schools as quickly and safely as possible to provide critical support of the economic recovery.
- We must have a strong focus on ensuring the safety and health of the public, and creating fiscal and operational excellence at all levels of government.
a. Most importantly, we must all strive for ""better collaboration between and within the public and private sectors"" with a keen focus on the principles of continuous improvement and respect for each other to develop and implement solutions which meet the needs of our people, not the parties.
b. Create savings throughout state government using continuous improvement practices and implement an economic development growth strategy to fund ""pension systems of current and former public employees"" (educators; police, fire, EMTs; and state employees) who throughout the Commonwealth.
c. For all to have ""high-quality affordable healthcare"" we must do everything possible to make sure our economy has lucrative career opportunities in growth industries and significant state government operational savings to generate the necessary revenue.
I am a servant leader with a strong belief in the value of continuous improvement and respect for others, with a longstanding brand focused on knowing how to build and sustain collaborative relationships.
I believe that the core and foundational responsibility of state government and that of its elected representatives is to help keep the public safe through fair, efficient and effective law and order measures and to maintain public health in a manner that is effective while not violating personal freedoms. In order to first properly fund the aforementioned and then provide funding of services that are not of the highest priority, legislators must balance KY's biennial budget through cost savings measures and reasonable taxation policies focused on creating an environment where KY's growth industries can flourish..
My first job off the farm was working for Harrod and Carter Rock Quarry in Frankfort, KY the summer of 1972. I was seventeen, going to start my senior year at Frankfort High School (FHS) in August and it was three months of hard work eight hours a day, six days a week. After graduation from FHS I attended Western Kentucky University (WKU) and every summer until I graduated I worked for Robert L. Carter Construction Company. I was on the concrete crew and worked ten hours a day, five days a week. During those years I learned the true meaning of hard work. Between the two companies I worked six summers.
Bible, because I am a believer. I need to read it again.
Bad Moon Rising
The House of Representatives is considered to be the body which most closely represents the will of the people because of the smaller proportion of residents per House district. Because of the political diversity of the one hundred members by region of the Commonwealth, there seems to be many more interests to be considered in the development and passage of legislation. On the other hand the Senate is a much smaller body of thirty-eight members and is a more deliberate body. This being the case, many House bills die in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Republican Caucus of each chamber is currently is a super majority which makes it much easier to develop and pass legislation which is considered to be more conservative.
I do believe that it is very beneficial for state legislators to have an extensive understanding of the workings of state government, including the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. It is especially very helpful to have extensive work experience in the legislative and executive branches. I have always felt that good government leads to good politics, especially if one knows how to collaborate and still maintain their principles.
The biggest challenge in my opinion is successfully recovering from the devastating economic impact of the pandemic. We must develop and implement a comprehensive economic/talent development strategic
plan which creates an environment for the Commonwealth's growth industries to flourish and create prosperity for all through lucrative career pathway opportunities.
plan which creates an environment for the Commonwealth's growth industries to flourish and create prosperity for all through lucrative career pathway opportunities.
Given that the Commonwealth currently has a Democratic Governor, and a House and Senate with Republican super majorities it is going to be very challenging for both major parties to come together for the benefit of our people and not the parties. The leadership of both the legislative and executive branches must find ways to communicate on an ongoing basis, even though their political viewpoints may create an environment for "gotcha politics". Although the leadership of both sides of the aisle must show a willingness to communicate and attempt to collaborate, I believe it is primarily the role of the Governor to lay out a vision and agenda for the Commonwealth and work tirelessly to sell the plan to the legislature.
Absolutely! My personal brand is one who has spent most of my professional career developing, implementing and sustaining collaborative relationships focused on talent/economic development initiatives. As an Independent I will work to develop the necessary relationships within the legislative branch and with the executive branch to help the Commonwealth stand up the economy and bring prosperity to all Kentuckians.
When I worked for the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission one of the first projects I worked on was the Census Bureau's newly instituted Block Boundary Suggestion (BBS) project. The BBS system I helped build as a staffer on the State Government Committee still provides detailed and very defensible data to ensure that the redistricting process is done in the most appropriated manner.
I would definitely like the opportunity to serve on the economic development and education committees to help identify, develop and implement solutions focused on economic/talent development and bring prosperity to our people.
Given that I am an Independent, there is no chance for me to serve in a party's leadership role.
I like the way that Senator Robert Stivers, current President of the KY Senate, conducts himself in such a professional manner and treats all members of the chamber with respect.
Given that the pandemic has made it nearly impossible to have many in person events and interactions, there have not been many opportunities for hearing impactful stories. Nevertheless, one the most concerning stories I have repeatedly heard first hand from resident farmers is how challenging it has become to process beef, hogs and poultry in a timely manner. This first came to light very quickly when the pandemic was first felt earlier this year and supply chains of food products, particularly meat, were broken resulting in many sore shelves being bare. We have taken for granted how important our farmers are and the supply chain capabilities required to keep our people fed properly. This must be dealt with very quickly, especially if the current pandemic was to take a dramatic turn for the worst. I was glad to hear today that Ryan Quarles, Commissioner of the KY Department of Agriculture, has already taken some steps to remedy this situation and has also asked Governor Beshear for more funding to expand the efforts.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 29, 2020
Current members of the Kentucky State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Robert Stivers
Majority Leader:Max Wise
Minority Leader:Gerald Neal
Senators
District 1
Jason Howell (R)
District 2
Danny Carroll (R)
District 3
Craig Richardson (R)
District 4
Robby Mills (R)
District 5
Stephen Meredith (R)
District 6
Lindsey Tichenor (R)
District 7
Aaron Reed (R)
District 8
Gary Boswell (R)
District 9
David Givens (R)
District 10
Matthew Deneen (R)
District 11
Steve Rawlings (R)
District 12
Amanda Bledsoe (R)
District 13
Reggie Thomas (D)
District 14
Jimmy Higdon (R)
District 15
Rick Girdler (R)
District 16
Max Wise (R)
District 17
Matt Nunn (R)
District 18
Robin Webb (R)
District 19
District 20
Gex Williams (R)
District 21
Brandon Storm (R)
District 22
Donald Douglas (R)
District 23
Chris McDaniel (R)
District 24
District 25
Robert Stivers (R)
District 26
Karen Berg (D)
District 27
Steve West (R)
District 28
Greg Elkins (R)
District 29
Scott Madon (R)
District 30
Brandon Smith (R)
District 31
Phillip Wheeler (R)
District 32
Mike Wilson (R)
District 33
Gerald Neal (D)
District 34
Jared Carpenter (R)
District 35
Keturah Herron (D)
District 36
Julie Adams (R)
District 37
David Yates (D)
District 38
Mike Nemes (R)
Republican Party (32)
Democratic Party (6)
