United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026 (May 19 Democratic primary)
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| U.S. Senate, Kentucky |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: January 9, 2026 |
| Primary: May 19, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
6 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th Kentucky elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
A Democratic Party primary takes place on May 19, 2026, in Kentucky to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent is Mitch McConnell (Republican), who was first elected in 1984.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Kentucky utilizes a closed primary process, in which only registered party members can participate.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Kentucky's United States Senate Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026 (May 19 Republican primary)
- United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026
Candidates and election results
Note: The following list of candidates is unofficial. The filing deadline for this election has passed, and Ballotpedia is working to update this page with the official candidate list. This note will be removed once the official candidate list has been added.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Joshua Blanton Sr. | ||
 | Charles Booker | |
 | Logan Forsythe | |
 | Amy McGrath | |
 | Dale Romans | |
 | Pamela Stevenson | |
 | Vincent Thompson | |
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 = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joel Willett (D)
- Jared Randall (D)
Candidate profiles
There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Kentucky
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joshua Blanton Sr. | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Charles Booker | Democratic Party | $77,155 | $3,056 | $74,099 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Logan Forsythe | Democratic Party | $46,938 | $43,805 | $3,133 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Amy McGrath | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Dale Romans | Democratic Party | $762,958 | $185,441 | $577,517 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Pamela Stevenson | Democratic Party | $266,963 | $242,099 | $24,864 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Vincent Thompson | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," . This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Kentucky in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Kentucky, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Kentucky | U.S. Senate | Democratic or Republican | 2 | $500.00 | 1/9/2026 | Source |
| Kentucky | U.S. Senate | Unaffiliated | 5,000 | $500.00 | 6/2/2026 | Source |
See also
- United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026 (May 19 Republican primary)
- United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026
- United States Senate Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate elections, 2026
- U.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
