Sellus Wilder

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Sellus Wilder

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 17, 2016

Contact

Personal website

Sellus Wilder was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky. Wilder was defeated by Jim Gray in the Democratic primary.

Elections

2016

See also: United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated Kentucky's U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. Incumbent Rand Paul (R) defeated Jim Gray (D) and Billy Ray Wilson (Write-in) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Paul defeated James Gould and Stephen Howard Slaughter in the Republican primary, while Gray defeated six other challengers to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on May 17, 2016.

U.S. Senate, Kentucky General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rand Paul Incumbent	57.3%	1,090,177
	Democratic	Jim Gray	42.7%	813,246
	N/A	Write-in	0%	42
Total Votes				1,903,465
Source: Kentucky Secretary of State

U.S. Senate, Kentucky Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rand Paul Incumbent	84.8%	169,180
James Gould	8.3%	16,611
Stephen Slaughter	6.9%	13,728
Total Votes		199,519
Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections

U.S. Senate, Kentucky Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jim Gray	58.7%	240,598
Sellus Wilder	12.9%	52,729
Ron Leach	9.5%	39,026
Tom Recktenwald	5.3%	21,910
Grant Short	5.3%	21,558
Jeff Kender	4.9%	20,237
Rory Houlihan	3.3%	13,585
Total Votes		409,643
Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections

Campaign themes

2016

The following issues were listed on Wilder's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Health: This campaign is about the health of the Commonwealth, the health of our people, the health of our economy, the health of our spirits, and the health of our land, water and air. An Economy For The People: I support an economy that values the lives of real people more than profits and power. We need to prevent the financial industry from gambling with the American economy. When financial firms gamble and win, they reap massive profits that fail to ‘trickle down’ to everyday Americans, but when these firms gamble and lose then everyday Americans have to pay the price. This simply isn’t fair, and it’s past time for us to decouple the investment industry from the banking industry and to break up financial institutions that are ‘too-big-to-fail.’ A Strong Workforce: I support a minimum wage that actually covers the cost of living, because nobody who works more than 40 hours a week should have to chose between heating or groceries. I support unions, because a strong workforce and a healthy middle class are essential drivers of the American economy. We should make it easier for workers to join unions by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. “Trickle-Up” economics will organically benefit our entire economy by strengthening the purchasing power of millions of Americans. Criminal Justice Reform: I support reduced mandatory minimums, restoration of voting rights for non-violent offenders, legalization and taxation of marijuana (particularly for medical use), and an examination of a for-profit prison industry that results in the highest incarceration rates in the world. Affordable Education: We need to make higher education affordable for all Americans. I support taking the Federal Financial Aid program back to its initial purpose – to make college affordable for lower and middle class Americans. Thanks to the influence of for-profit lending institutions on lawmakers, the very students that the legislation targeted to help now pay substantially more for the same college education as their wealthy classmates. We need to lower interest rates on student loans, and offer more opportunities for graduates to reduce or eliminate their student loan debts by using their new skills to benefit society.	”
—Sellus Wilder's campaign website, http://wilderforsenate.com/my-vision/

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Sellus Wilder Kentucky Senate. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Sellus Wilder - Google News

See also

• United States Senate
• United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2016

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Facebook page
• Twitter feed

Footnotes

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Kentucky's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Mitch McConnell (R)

Rand Paul (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)