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Friday, January 10, 2020

Graviss is only Democrat in Senate race, which has 5 Republicans; Fister and 3 Democrats are in House race

This story has been revised to include the correct filing deadline for City Council. It is June 2.

Five Republicans filed for the state Senate seat representing Woodford and several other counties and being given up by former Gov. Julian Carroll.

State Rep. Joe Graviss of Versailles was the only Democrat to file for the Senate seat. Filing for his House district, which Woodford County dominates, were three Democrats and one Republican, Dan Fister of Versailles, who lost in 2018 to Graviss and in 2016 to James Kay, now county judge-executive.

The Democrats in the House race are Bob Gibson of Versailles, who announced in July when Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift withdrew a week after announcing; Nolan Benjamin Scott, 20 Goshen St., Frankfort; and Lamar Allen, 1643 Alexandria Drive #2, Lexington. The district (right) includes parts of Fayette and Franklin counties.

The Senate district comprises Woodford, Anderson, Franklin, Owen and Gallatin counties.

The Republican candidates vying for the May 19 nomination to face Graviss are Kirk Crawford Cleaver, 1102 Woodlake Dr., Lawrenceburg; Katie Howard, 1179 Nevins Station Rd., Lawrenceburg; Adrienne E. Southworth, Box 1056, Lawrenceburg; Calen Studler, 225 S. Benson Rd., Frankfort; and Linda Pirtle Thompson, 129 Woodgate Rd., Frankfort. Most have been campaigning for weeks; Southworth, who filed today, is the aide to then-Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton who was fired by then-Gov. Matt Bevin. Here's a Louisville Courier Journal story about her.

The two districts have long been represented by Democrats. The House district has 18,705 registered Democrats and 13,033 registered Republicans, plus about 3,000 independents and members of other parties. The Senate district's registration is more lopsided, with 53,619 Democrats, 32,645 Republicans and about 7,000 independents and minor-party members.

The deadline to file for partisan office in Kentucky was 4 p.m. today. The deadline to file for most nonpartisan offices, including the Midway City Council, is June 2. in early August. The General Assembly moved up that deadline from August in the same session that it made the deadline for partisan offices the earliest in the nation with respect to the date of the primary election.

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