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Robert Stivers

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Robert Stivers
Image of Robert Stivers

Republican Party

Kentucky State Senate District 25
Tenure

1997 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

28

Compensation

Base salary

188.22/calendar day during session for legislators whose terms began before 2023. $203.28/calendar day for legislators whose terms began after 2023.

Per diem

$182.60/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Sue Bennett Junior College

Law

University of Kentucky

Personal
Religion
Christian: Presbyterian
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Official website

Official Twitter

Personal Facebook

Robert Stivers (Republican Party) is a member of the Kentucky State Senate, representing District 25. He assumed office in 1997. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.

Stivers became Kentucky state Senate president on Jan. 7, 2013.[1]

Stivers was born in Kentucky in 1961.[2] He received a bachelor's degree in industrial management from the University of Kentucky and a J.D. from the University of Louisville.[2] After completing his education, Stivers worked as an attorney in Clay County, Kentucky. He then served as assistant commonwealth's attorney from 1989 to 1993 before returning to private practice.[2]

In 1996, Stivers defeated Charles Derrickson (D) 53% to 47% to represent District 25 in the Kentucky Senate.[3] Of the eight general elections Stivers ran in from 1996 to 2024, he ran without major party opposition in four races. From 2008 to 2013, Stivers served as the state Senate majority leader before assuming office as the state Senate president in 2013.[2]

During Stivers' tenure in the Senate, there was a shift in the partisan control of both chambers of the Kentucky General Assembly. From 1996 to 2000, there was a Democratic majority in both the Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. Although Republicans gained control of the Senate in 2000, Democrats' control of the House continued until 2016. On working in the Assembly during this time, Stivers said, "You have to open the communications line, and have an ability to have frank discussions that don't play out in the paper."[4]

The University of Kentucky's Al Cross described Stivers as "not a pusher of hot buttons like many GOP legislative leaders in the South; he is a traditional Republican, close to [Mitch] McConnell, and has steered Kentucky GOPers away from some of the right-wing excesses seen in other Republican-controlled legislatures. He knows that while Kentucky is Republican, it still has Democratic rootstock."[5]

Biography

Stivers earned his B.S. in industrial management from Sue Bennett Junior College and his J.D. from the University of Kentucky. His professional experience includes working as an Assistant Commonwealth Attorney and a private practice attorney.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Stivers was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Stivers was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Stivers was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Kentucky committee assignments, 2017
• Committee on Committees, Chair
• Judiciary
• Rules, Chair

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Stivers served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Stivers served on the following committees:

Kentucky committee assignments, 2013
• Appropriations and Revenue
• Committee on Committees, Chair
• Judiciary
• Rules, Chair

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Stivers served on the following committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Stivers served on the following committees:

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Kentucky State Senate District 25

Incumbent Robert Stivers won election in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 25 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Robert Stivers
Robert Stivers (R)
 
100.0
 
41,174

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 41,174
Candidate Connection = 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 Robert Stivers advanced from the Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 25.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Stivers in this election.

2020

See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Kentucky State Senate District 25

Incumbent Robert Stivers won election in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 25 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Robert Stivers
Robert Stivers (R)
 
100.0
 
37,141

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 37,141
Candidate Connection = 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

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Robert Stivers advanced from the Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 25.

2016

See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Kentucky State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 17, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was January 26, 2016.

Incumbent Robert Stivers ran unopposed in the Kentucky State Senate District 25 general election.[6][7]

Kentucky State Senate District 25, General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Robert Stivers Incumbent (unopposed) 100.00% 30,577
Total Votes 30,577
Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections



Incumbent Robert Stivers ran unopposed in the Kentucky State Senate District 25 Republican primary.[8]

Kentucky State Senate District 25, Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Robert Stivers Incumbent (unopposed)

2012

See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2012

Stivers won re-election in the 2012 election for Kentucky State Senate District 25. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary on May 22, 2012, and defeated Ralph Hoskins (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[9][10]

Kentucky State Senate, District 23, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngRobert Stivers Incumbent 64% 21,198
     Democratic Ralph Hoskins 36% 11,949
Total Votes 33,147

2008

On November 4, 2008, Stivers won re-election to the 25th District Seat in the Kentucky State Senate, defeating Michael "Whitey" Adkins (D).[11] Stivers raised $176,162 for his campaign, while Adkins raised $21,200.[12]

Kentucky State Senate, District 25 (2008)
Candidates Votes Percent
Green check mark transparent.png Robert Stivers (R) 21,459 65.2%
Michael "Whitey" Adkins (D) 11,450 34.8%

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Robert Stivers did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Robert Stivers did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 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.

Robert Stivers campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Kentucky State Senate District 25Won general$835,932 $0
2020Kentucky State Senate District 25Won general$278,996 N/A**
2016Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $112,325 N/A**
2012Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $147,610 N/A**
2008Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $176,162 N/A**
2004Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $65,350 N/A**
2000Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $107,881 N/A**
1996Kentucky State Senate, District 25Won $76,106 N/A**
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

2016 Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Robert Stivers
Republican National Convention, 2016
Status:Delegate
State:Kentucky
Bound to:Unknown
Delegates to the RNC 2016
Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state

Stivers was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Kentucky.[13] In the Kentucky Republican caucuses on March 5, 2016, Donald Trump received 17 delegates, Ted Cruz received 15, and Marco Rubio and John Kasich received seven each. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Stivers was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Kentucky’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[14]

Delegate rules

See also: RNC delegate guidelines from Kentucky, 2016 and Republican delegates from Kentucky, 2016

Delegates from Kentucky to the Republican National Convention were selected by nomination committees and approved at the county and state conventions. Kentucky GOP rules required national convention delegates to have supported the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Kentucky GOP rules and Kentucky state law required delegates from Kentucky to vote for the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention. If a candidate died or withdrew prior to the first round of voting at the national convention, the chairman of the Kentucky delegation was to call a meeting at which the delegates were to vote on the remaining candidates and be reallocated on the basis of the results.

Kentucky caucus results

See also: Presidential election in Kentucky, 2016
Kentucky Republican Caucus, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes Delegates
Green check mark transparent.pngDonald Trump 35.9% 82,493 17
Ted Cruz 31.6% 72,503 15
Marco Rubio 16.4% 37,579 7
John Kasich 14.4% 33,134 7
Ben Carson 0.8% 1,951 0
Rand Paul 0.4% 872 0
Other 0.2% 496 0
Jeb Bush 0.1% 305 0
Mike Huckabee 0.1% 174 0
Chris Christie 0% 65 0
Carly Fiorina 0% 64 0
Rick Santorum 0% 31 0
Totals 229,667 46
Source: The New York Times and Republican Party of Kentucky

Delegate allocation

See also: 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules
Logo-GOP.png

Kentucky had 46 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 18 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's six congressional districts). District delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 5 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any district delegates.[15][16]

Of the remaining 28 delegates, 25 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 5 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention. The RNC delegates were allocated in the same manner as the at-large delegates.[15][16][17]

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Kentucky

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Kentucky scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


2012

See also

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External links

Officeholder

Kentucky State Senate District 25
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ WDRB, "KY General Assembly opens 2013 session," January 7, 2013
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kentucky Senate Republicans, "Leadership," accessed April 18, 2025
    3. ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "NOV. 5, 1996 Election Results," accessed April 18, 2025
    4. ↑ Governing, "Robert Stivers," accessed April 18, 2025
    5. ↑ Northern Kentucky Tribune, "Opinion – Al Cross: A political race card for Derby visitors, real and virtual," May 2, 2024
    6. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed August 17, 2016
    7. ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "2016 General Election Results," accessed November 25, 2016
    8. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed January 26, 2016
    9. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Official 2012 General Election Results," accessed January 7, 2015
    10. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, Official 2012 Primary Election Results
    11. ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Report of 'Official' Election Night Tally Results," November 26, 2008
    12. ↑ District 25 Kentucky State Senate, 2008 Money Raised
    13. ↑ Cincinnati.com, "Kentucky GOP releases list of delegates," April 25, 2016
    14. ↑ To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
    15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
    16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
    17. ↑ Republican National Committee, "Memorandum on Binding of RNC Members," January 29, 2016

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    -     		Kentucky State Senate District 25
    1997-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -
    v • e
    President of the Senate
    SLP badge.png
    AL: Will Ainsworth (R) • AK: Gary Stevens (R) • AZ: Warren Petersen (R) • AR: Leslie Rutledge (R) • CA: Eleni Kounalakis (D) • CO: James Coleman (Colorado) (D) • CT: Susan Bysiewicz (D) • DE: Kyle Evans Gay (D) • FL: Ben Albritton (R) • GA: Burt Jones (R) • HI: Ronald Kouchi (D) • ID: Scott Bedke (R) • IL: Don Harmon (D) • IN: Micah Beckwith (R) • IA: Amy Sinclair (R) • KS: Ty Masterson (R) • KY: Robert Stivers (R) • LA: Cameron Henry (R) • ME: TBD (D) • MD: William Ferguson IV (D) • MA: Karen Spilka (D) • MI: Garlin Gilchrist II (D) • MN: Bobby Joe Champion (D) • MS: Delbert Hosemann (R) • MO: David Wasinger (R) • MT: Matt Regier (R) • NE: Joe Kelly (Nebraska) (R) • NV: Stavros S. Anthony (R) • NH: Sharon Carson (R) • NJ: Nicholas Scutari (D) • NM: Howie Morales (D) • NY: Antonio Delgado (D) • NC: Rachel Hunt (D) • ND: Michelle Strinden (R) • OH: Robert McColley (R) • OK: Matt Pinnell (R) • OR: Rob Wagner (D) • PA: Austin Davis (D) • RI: Valarie Lawson (D) • SC: Thomas Alexander (R) • SD: Tony Venhuizen (R) • TN: Randy McNally (R) • TX: Dan Patrick (R) • UT: Stuart Adams (R) • VT: John Rodgers (Vermont) (R) • VA: Winsome Earle-Sears (R) • WA: Denny Heck (D) • WV: Randy E. Smith (West Virginia) (R) • WI: Mary Felzkowski (R) • WY: Bo Biteman (R)


    Current members of the Kentucky State Senate
    Leadership
    Senate President:Robert Stivers
    Majority Leader:Max Wise
    Minority Leader:Gerald Neal
    Senators
    District 1
    District 2
    District 3
    District 4
    District 5
    District 6
    District 7
    District 8
    District 9
    District 10
    District 11
    District 12
    District 13
    District 14
    District 15
    District 16
    Max Wise (R)
    District 17
    Matt Nunn (R)
    District 18
    District 19
    District 20
    District 21
    District 22
    District 23
    District 24
    District 25
    District 26
    District 27
    District 28
    District 29
    District 30
    District 31
    District 32
    District 33
    District 34
    District 35
    District 36
    District 37
    District 38
    Republican Party (32)
    Democratic Party (6)


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