Kentucky State Senate District 4 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Kentucky, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Kentucky State Senate District 4 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Kentucky State Senate District 4

Incumbent Robby Mills defeated Bruce Pritchett in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 4 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robby Mills (R)	66.6	25,141
		Bruce Pritchett (D)	33.4	12,585

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 37,726
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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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.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Education-The science is crystal clear - when you invest in our youngest folks early, you get much better outcomes in the long run. Our next big opportunity to make smart, critical investments in our young people comes in the form of passing universal pre-K. Each and every Kentucky four year old - regardless of zip code - is worth the investment, and it will pay huge dividends - in the form of stronger, healthier, more work ready communities through our region.

Affordable/Accessible Healthcare- this is the key to our region having stronger/healthier families, more work ready communities, and to transforming Kentucky into a leading Healthcare state.

Infrastructure- With the plans in place to finalize I-69, there has been no better time to fight to significantly increase the infrastructure funding that comes into our region.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Education- create pathways for our students to follow whether that leads them to a 4 year university/college or technical school. Eliminate the the stigma or pressure that would keep a student from attending qualified technical schools . We have a immediate need for skilled trades workers today that are lifetime skills. Agriculture Innovation- With emerging technologies our agricultural industry has more and more opportunities to innovate, to lower costs, increase yields and improve efficiency - while protecting our way of life. We need to continue to emphasize and elevate these conversations, and look for ways to create more investment in this sector through tax breaks, tax credits and more. Agriculture is way of life and our family farms are vital to our region. I'll always look for ways to help them, and I'll talk to anyone, regardless of party, to get that done.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Servants attitude- willing to work for the betterment of our community and serve our community

Statesman- willing to stand up for our community and what is right

Forward looking- ability to think and act on changes that create future growth

Positive Bipartisan Voice- create relationships across party lines that will strengthen our role in the state legislature

Productive conflict- finding solutions by working together- have the ability to bring all points to the table for discussion without offending

What legacy would you like to leave?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

A growing future for our western Kentucky children and grandchildren- our home towns become a destination rather than a jump off point for our children.

Create future leaders to serve, invest in and lead our communities

Connecting generations- working to mentor youth and support the elderly.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Working and managing family farm- our family operated a 2,000 acre farming operation that included 400-600 acres of corn and soybeans, 120 head cow/calf operation, background feeding 1,000 feeder calves and average finishing out 3,000 head of hogs per year. As our family continued to grow the operation was divided and it became harder to support our families in the mid-1980's as pricing on livestock and grain fell to historic lows. This was the time we had to make a hard economic decision to close down the operation my father retired before creating a large debt as many farm operations did in the 80's. My brother and I joined the public workforce and we have both had very successful business careers and enjoy living on the farm we were raised on.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Riding the Storm Out

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Building relationships is critical to success as a legislator or a business person. By developing relationships and developing mutual understandings you create trust, respect, cooperation and support. Relationships should be built early on not just when it is convenient. Building and maintaining a relationship or relationships is a continuous process, not a burdensome task. This is not a selling feature, but the ability to develop a trusting and collaborative relationship that you can openly share opinions and feedback.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

Agriculture- with my personal investment in agriculture and working with agricultural companies I would be an asset to this committee. Kentucky agriculture as does agriculture across the United States has a bright future. We need people on our legislative agricultural team who understand, listen and are forward looking for future changes in agriculture. We have to protect our agricultural community and help them innovate for the future.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Bruce Pritchett (D)

We as a nation seem to have a increasing polarization of our ideas, but is this driven by media bias. This political compromise becomes more difficult as media drives the rhetoric or limits public input. I am a major believer in compromise whether it be in politics or business there is normally a middle ground we can reach that can be amenable to both parties. Compromise and working together will help us to capitalize on the strengths of both parties and implement ideas that can keep Kentucky and Senate District 4 growing into the future. Companies, organizations and politicians that work together through compromise create greater opportunities.

See also

More about these elections:

• Kentucky State Senate elections, 2022

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