Republicans, Democrats finalize candidate lineups for Kentucky elections in 2024

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s congressional and legislative campaigns came into focus Friday as Republicans and Democrats completed candidate lineups for 2024 elections lacking a marquee race for statewide office unlike last year, when the state was in the limelight with its hotly contested gubernatorial contest.

All six Kentucky congressmen — five Republicans and one Democrat — filed for reelection. They all will be challenged, either in the spring primary or the November general election.

Democrats again failed to field legislative candidates across swaths of rural Kentucky, while a number of Republican state lawmakers will encounter primary challenges. It reflects the diminished Democratic brand in much of rural Kentucky and the GOP’s continued growth, leading to competitive primaries. Republicans have amassed supermajorities in both the Kentucky House and Senate.

“Kentucky continues to trend toward the Republican Party,” GOP House Speaker David Osborne told reporters several hours before the candidate filing deadline. “Therefore more and more seats are determined in the Republican primary.”

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