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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 |
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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 includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:
- Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
- Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
Logan Forsythe, Jared Randall, Pamela Stevenson, Vincent Thompson, and Joel Willett are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 19, 2026.
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Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Party: Democratic Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "We need Free Healthcare/Dental Care for ALL NOW!! Again my Campaign sign idea below rough Draft: Jared Randall Socialist Democrat for Kentucky U.S. Senate = Free Healthcare/Dental Care for ALL, Free College for ALL, Free city Bus Service, Paid FMLA, Rent/Food price Controls, STOP funding wars! You know our leaders should have just made free universal healthcare and Dental care for ALL years ago! Sadly, if you go to Open Secrets https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress then you see sadly all our leaders work for Healthcare Industry, war makers, etc and not the people. Our leaders fund endless foreign wars but want give us healthcare and dental care like every other civilized country in the world-SAD! It is called American corporate Greed over people’s basic needs.. I feel like the “Louisville Socialist Democrats” should be having our own anti Trump rallies separate from Moderate Democrats who vote like Republicans half the time sadly! We need more progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders running in future elections because moderate Democrats like Chuck Schumer vote with Republicans half the time so not fighting for us!!!"
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Kentucky
Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Forsythe | Democratic Party | $39,745 | $1,358 | $38,387 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Jared Randall | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| 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*** |
| Joel Willett | Democratic Party | $319,775 | $4,616 | $315,159 | As of September 30, 2025 |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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
This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.
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
