Randy Cravens - Ballotpedia

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Randy Cravens (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Kentucky's 6th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Cravens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Randy Cravens was born in Paducah, Kentucky and lives in Richmond, Kentucky. His career experience includes working as a major incident manager in the information technology sector.^[1]^[2]

Elections

2024

See also: Kentucky's 6th Congressional District election, 2024

Kentucky's 6th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 21 Democratic primary)

Kentucky's 6th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 21 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Kentucky District 6

Incumbent Andy Barr defeated Randy Cravens in the general election for U.S. House Kentucky District 6 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Barr (R)	63.4	220,883
		Randy Cravens (D)	36.6	127,536

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 348,419
= 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

Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6

Randy Cravens defeated Todd Kelly, Shauna Rudd, Jonathan Richardson, and Don B. Pratt in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Cravens	26.0	9,305
		Todd Kelly	25.4	9,104
		Shauna Rudd	24.1	8,627
		Jonathan Richardson	12.4	4,433
	Submit photo	Don B. Pratt	12.1	4,335

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 35,804
= 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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Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Andy Barr advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6.

Endorsements

Cravens received the following endorsements.

Lexington Herald Leader

2022

See also: Kentucky's 6th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Kentucky District 6

Incumbent Andy Barr defeated Geoff M. Young, Randy Cravens, and Maxwell Froedge in the general election for U.S. House Kentucky District 6 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Barr (R)	62.7	154,762
		Geoff M. Young (D)	33.6	83,005
		Randy Cravens (D) (Write-in)	3.6	8,970
	Submit photo	Maxwell Froedge (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	81

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 246,818
= 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 6

Geoff M. Young defeated Christopher Preece in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Geoff M. Young	51.7	25,722
		Christopher Preece	48.3	24,007

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,729
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Scott Etter (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6

Incumbent Andy Barr defeated Derek Leonard Petteys in the Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 6 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Barr	87.8	47,660
		Derek Leonard Petteys	12.2	6,593

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 54,253
= 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

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Randy Cravens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cravens' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a husband, a dad, and a Kentuckian. I am running as a candidate in this election to offer voters a choice between another two years of stagnation and gridlock in Washington, and true progress for our Commonwealth and the nation.

I am running not only because our rights, our dignity, and our privacy have been taken away, but because the futures of our children and grandchildren have been mortgaged away by this Congress for the sole purpose of a vain fight to retain political power.

I am running because we must immediately take action to address a world on fire, in which we face existential crises both in nature and in geopolitics. The next Congress will be called upon to take consequential votes, the outcomes of which we may never live to see, but votes which will ensure the viability of our nation and our planet to enable future generations to continue on in pursuit of the peace that we desire today.

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?

I will protect the right of women to be free from government intrusion into their medical choices. I will fight to protect IVF federally for hopeful parents, and will vote to restore Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land for abortion.
I will protect the rights of our LGBTQ+ community, to ensure that they are able to live lives in happiness, equality and with the right to enjoy a civil marriage.
I will work to address the crisis in housing affordability by establishing federal incentives for the development of affordable housing, including the expansion of funding and eligibility for FHA, VA, and USDA Rural Housing Service mortgages. I will support legislation to allow federal buyer/builder support via either low-interest direct lending or mortgage rate buydown grants for indirect lending.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

To quote Jack Stanton, from the movie Primary Colors:

"I'm against doing nothing while people are suffering. I'm against going against any idea that might help because it isn't my idea."

There are a lot of our fellow Kentuckians who are suffering. Many suffer because of loss: loss of hope, loss of work, loss of health, loss of opportunity.

Government cannot fix everything, but when it is properly funded, and when it is made of Congresspeople who actually care, government CAN help. Government represents ALL of the people, and we are ALL in this together. Nobody is immune from loss or suffering.

I am passionate about any area of public policy that will serve our people, and provide light in darkness.

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

Humility and humanity.

An elected official must be cognizant of the immense responsibility placed upon them by the hundreds of thousands of citizens that they represent. They must recognize that they are OF the people, not ABOVE the people.

Elected officials also must serve with humanity, and an understanding of circumstances which they may have never had to navigate. They must be good and decent, and able to understand the services and protections needed and desired by communities that they have never inhabited.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibility for someone elected to this office is to serve and legislate as though there are no national news channels to talk to. You must be able to communicate with legislators from across the country, and reach consensus for the greater good of our Commonwealth and our nation, not for the next soundbite.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren that in a time of unprecedented stagnation and severe division in our country, when we were facing crisis on multiple fronts, that I stepped up and did my best to lead our Commonwealth and our country into a new age of peace and prosperity.

I want my legacy to be one that I may not live to see; a planet with clean air, a viable future, and a Kentucky that they can be proud to continue to call home.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

No. In fact, I believe that experience in government and politics can serve to be detrimental for our constituents. The longer a Congressperson serves in office, the more siloed they can become in its structure, and the more that true decision making can be placed in a walled garden, inaccessible for most new Members.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

As a nation we are navigating a world dominated by three superpowers in China, Russia and the United States. China and Russia are led by old men chasing dying dreams of grandeur for their nations. Those ambitions are contrary to what I want the ambitions of the United States to be, and risk an even further progression of the geopolitical instability which we are currently experiencing.

We must walk this diplomatic tightrope in a unified manner on all levels of government, and with clarity of the stakes and reality of the situation, unclouded by the influence of foreign propaganda.

We also are facing a precipitous and existential threat in the form of climate change. Climate change is real, and it has been manmade to this point, but with the thawing that is underway, it will result in a potentially calamitous further release of naturally sequestered carbon and methane into our environment throwing the planet's viability into severe question.

We must summon the willingness to invest, in money, technology, and American labor and ingenuity in a massive effort to not only decarbonize our power generation, but to cap orphaned wells, to convert baseload power generation to renewable and nuclear technologies, and to develop and deploy Direct Air Capture and sequestration of airborne methane and CO2.

Finally, we must come to a point of national reconciliation, and remember that what unites us in the American story is far more substantial than what divides us. We cannot meet the challenges of our day and age, nor address the challenges of the future, if we cannot talk face to face over a cup of coffee, or sit next to each other at a high school football game without getting into an argument.

We must all lead by example, and show humanity and dignity to all others, even and especially those who may be completely different than ourselves.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes, with a maximum of three consecutive terms, for a total of six years of service.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I am a proponent of term limits for federal office, as I believe reasonable term limits allow experienced leadership and governance, while allowing fresh ideas and viewpoints to regularly cycle into federal offices.

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

In the short term, it may not be possible on an overall basis in the Congress, due to the obstructionist tendencies present in Washington, though it is always desirable.

We must seek to serve all of our constituents in Washington, and the more Congresspeople that are sent to Washington with a mandate from their people to compromise, the more available and practical compromise will be.

But the compromise that we seek must be a two-way street. It cannot solely be obstruction under a thin veneer of a desire for compromise.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

If the House is in Democratic hands, it provides us with the power to set the agenda to actually fix our country, to provide those services needed by our constituents, and to bring our ideas and legislation back to our Districts to ensure that our constituents can advise of their support with their Senators.

How should the U.S. House use its investigative powers?

In a limited manner, on issues and infractions germane to the federal government, its members, and associated legislation. The investigative powers of the House should never be wielded for partisan theatrics. Our nation has had enough of the investigative sideshows of late.

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.

Campaign website

Cravens’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Curbing Gun Violence
I will:

Pass legislation raising the minimum age for the purchase of firearms to 21
Pass legislation allowing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to house a system of registration of firearms and firearm owners.
Pass legislation to require a federal license for firearm ownership. License eligibility will be based on receipt of firearm safety training, and mental health screening.
Close the "gun show" loophole nationwide, for all firearms purchases. All purchases of firearms will require a license, training, and updating of the federal registry.

Abortion
Abortion is a word and an action that incites rage and division in our society, in the exact place that we need compassion, reason and understanding most of all.

It is inconceivable to me that a woman, facing what could only be imagined as the most excruciatingly difficult moment of her life, would be forced away from the advice of her trusted physician, her own beliefs, and the love of her family because of politics.

I am a Christian. As a Christian, I do not believe that I have been ordained with the power and authority to act as God, and decide whose life is more valuable; a woman's or her unborn child's. I do not believe that myself, nor anyone in Washington is qualified to speak on what will be said when we face judgment at the end of our own lives. But, I feel confident that kindness, grace, love and care towards those who face such an unimaginably difficult decision will be looked upon more favorably than shunning them, or eternally condemning them for a situation largely out of their own control.

I believe that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. I believe that it is a sadly necessary medical intervention, when the mother's life is endangered. I believe that kindness, grace and dignity should be afforded those who must endure such a procedure.

I believe that the government's role should be one of incentivizing birth control, providing free or low-cost prenatal care, and that adoption law should be strengthened. I believe we should do everything to ensure the safest environment possible for those children who are brought into this world to parents who want to provide them with a better path forward.

LGBTQIA+ Rights
We are all created equal, with a body, a spirit, and a finite amount of time on this Earth.

You have the right to be who you were born to be.

You have the right to love who you feel drawn to love.

You have the right to spend your life with the one you love in a consensual civil marriage, with all of the privileges and benefits that marriage provides.

You have the right to do all of those things safely, under protection of law.

I will protect your rights to live in equality and harmony with all of our fellow Americans.

We are all made of the same flesh and bones, and we all deserve our chance at happiness.

Bringing Affordable Healthcare to Everyone
There is no reason, at all, why Medicare should not be opened up as a public option for all Americans to choose from. Study after study has shown that the efficiency and cost-savings of Medicare vs. private insurance provides a better financial outcome for subscribers.

I do however fully support the ability of Americans to opt-in to a private or faith-based insurance plan, if they feel that is a better fit for their finances, their families, and their needs.

The freedom to choose between solutions in an open marketplace can only benefit Americans.

Marijuana
Marijuana should have been legalized in Kentucky years ago, and should be legal today.

The criminalization of marijuana has only served to pack our jails, demolish the harmony of our communities, and steal the opportunities of so many of our neighbors, by robbing them of the chance at gainful employment, through the acquisition of a criminal record. And all of this has been done because of a plant. A plant with demonstrable medical application, but a dearth of research due to a decades long mis-categorization as a Schedule I substance. A weed with negative impacts no more harmful than legal intoxicants such as beer and liquor.

Our current federal law still treats marijuana as a public menace, and still disproportionately impacts people of color throughout the Commonwealth and across the nation. I will introduce federal legislation of my own, or support any other reasonable legislation which will legalize the cultivation, production, research, use and possession of marijuana and its derivatives.

Crime and Policing
Our Police Departments are critical for maintaining law and order throughout the Commonwealth.

I do not support defunding our Police departments.

I do support common-sense reform in Police training and policies. This would include legislation preventing the use of federally-allocated funds for police departments to acquire vehicles designed for the battlefields of war. This would also include making allocations of federal funds to enable mental health professionals to accompany responding officers on designated call responses. This would include an end, by federal legislation, of the use of "no-knock" warrants.

I believe the duty of our Police officers is to protect and serve our communities. I believe in providing the Police all the means necessary to carry out that duty. I believe that protection can be carried out, in many cases, much more effectively with words than at the barrel of a gun.

Affordable Housing
The time to trust corporations to simply do the right thing has come to an end.

Right now, in Kentucky and across the nation, corporations are vacuuming up huge swathes of our available housing inventory, massively inflating prices, and converting what was conventional single-family home stock for purchase into rental properties.

This is a clear and present danger to our communities, our freedom, and our way of life as Americans. Home ownership is the cornerstone of our American Dream, and today, far too many Kentuckians are priced out of the market.

I would support legislation tailored to severely limit the number of single-family properties that could be acquired by a corporate entity. I would ensure that there are no loopholes available which would allow the creation of shadow companies to sidestep any such regulations. I would favor legislation instituting punitive taxation on the profits of those corporations which would seek to continue to destroy the foundation of our livelihood.

Houses are meant for families to turn into homes, not for corporations to turn into profit.^[3]

”

—Randy Cravens’s campaign website (2024)^[4]

2022

Randy Cravens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cravens' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a husband, a dad, and a Kentuckian. I am running as a Democratic write-in candidate in this election to offer voters a choice between the far-left and far-right extremes represented by the candidates of the two major parties. I believe that, with decency and humility, I can act as an arbitrator between the two parties in Washington to actually produce meaningful progress towards protecting the rights of all Kentuckians.

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?

I will protect our children by supporting common-sense gun reform legislation. I will broker the deals necessary to protect gun owners, while also protecting those concerned for the safety of our children.
I will protect the right of women to be free from government intrusion into their medical choices.
I will protect the rights of our LGBTQ+ community, to ensure that they are able to live lives in happiness, equality and with the right to enjoy a civil marriage.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am most passionate about defending our personal freedoms and our liberty to live lives free of fear, free of government overreach, and free of the most destructive forces of capitalism.

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.

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.

Randy Cravens campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Kentucky District 6	Lost general	$31,687	$20,655
Grand total			$31,687	$20,655
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

U.S. House Kentucky District 6

Personal

Footnotes

↑ RandyCravens.com, "Meet Randy," accessed March 3, 2024
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 9, 2024
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Cravens, U.S. Congress, “Issues,” accessed March 3, 2024

Kentucky's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Mitch McConnell (R)

Representatives

District 1

James Comer (R)

District 2

Brett Guthrie (R)

District 3

Morgan McGarvey (D)

District 4

Thomas Massie (R)

District 5

Hal Rogers (R)

District 6

Andy Barr (R)

Republican Party (7)

Democratic Party (1)

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