By Hannah Stafford, News Editor
As election results rolled in Tuesday night, the color red overwhelmingly swept the state of Kentucky.
The Kentucky House of Representatives has been Democrat-controlled since 1921, but their most recent 53:47 majority was dramatically flipped to a Republican majority of 64:36 in this election. Democrats lost the 8th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 62nd, 74th, 78th, 81st, 84th, 92nd, 95th, 97th and 98th Districts. Republicans lost the 10th District. A significant upset in District 95 was the defeat of Democratic incumbent and Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo by Republican Larry Brown.
In the national elections, president-elect Donald Trump (R) took 62.5 percent of the vote, winning every county except Fayette and Jefferson, which encompass two of the state’s biggest cities: Lexington and Louisville, respectively. Senator Rand Paul (R) maintained his position, defeating Jim Gray (D), 57 to 43 percent, respectively. Gray won Carter, Rowan, Nicholas, Fayette, Jefferson, Franklin and Marion counties, while Paul won the remaining 113 counties.
The Republicans also kept five of the six U.S. House of Representative positions, losing only the 3rd District to Democratic incumbent John Yarmuth, who claimed 64 percent of his district’s vote. The Republican incumbents who won the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Districts are Brett Guthrie, Thomas Massie, Hal Rogers and Andy Barr, respectively. Republican James Comer, former agricultural commissioner, succeeded Ed Whitefield (R), in winning the 1st District.
In the Kentucky State Senate, where 19 seats were up for election, there were no surprises or upsets. Republicans held 15 and Democrats held the remaining four. The only change was the 5th District in which Stephen Meredith (R) replaced Gibson Carrol (R). The Republican’s 27:11 majority in the Senate is unchanged.
