Filing day has come and gone and the 2026 election is on. We talked about the field on our January 13th show, but in case you missed it, or you’d just rather read about it, here are some facts from the show and then some.
Democrats filed to run in 54 State House districts, 9 State Senate districts, and all US Congress districts.
Potential heated primaries
- 76th: Anne Gay Donworth defeated Jamie Palumbo, son of former Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, in the 2024 Democratic primary. Jamie Palumbo has decided to challenge Donworth for the seat, so it looks like we have a rematch.
- 43rd: Joi McAtee and Robert LeVertis Bell will face off to see who will replace Pamela Stevenson, who decided to run for US Senate. Bell challenged Stevenson in the 2024 primary and came within 400 votes of winning.
- 30th: A four-way primary! Incumbent Daniel Grossberg, who, in our opinion, should resign because of his behavior towards women in Frankfort and also because of his behavior towards women in a Louisville strip club, has decided to try to run for his seat again. Challenging him is Mitra Subedi, who also challenged Grossberg in 2024, and lost by 50 votes. Also in this race are Max Morley, who is heavily involved in the Louisville Democratic Party and has been a teacher, as well as Cassie Lyles, who led the teachers PAC in the year when the charter amendment was on the ballot.
- 45th: Beverly Chester-Burton, who was sentenced for a second DUI this past year, has two primary challengers, Kenya Wade and Jesten Slaw. Wade is a social worker who started a nonprofit addressing gun violence. Slaw is a veteran, lawyer, and an MPA who has been very involved in the community.
- 48th: Nathan Bellows has been in the race for a while – he is a National Guard veteran and a realtor. Joining him at the last second was Suhas Kulkarni, the father of Nima Kulkarni. He said he was inspired to run because of a bill sponsored during this session which would have banned naturalized citizens from running for office.
- 36th Senate: A Senate race in Louisville to highlight is in Eastern Jefferson County, where Sarah Cole McIntosh is running against Luke Whitehead. McIntosh is a former member of the Jefferson County Board of Education, and Luke Whitehead is a former University of Louisville basketball player.
- 2nd and 45th: Several Republican seats have what appear to be competitive primaries, but there were two that stood out to me because they were 2024 primary losers who were trying to win back their seats: Killian Timoney in Lexington and Richard Heath in Paducah.
- 14th Senate: SEVEN Republicans are running to replace longtime Sen. Jimmy Higdon who is not running for reelection. There are also two Democrats running for the seat.
- 30th Senate: Rep. Bill Wesley is leaving his House seat to primary State Senator Brandon Smith in this EKY district.
Potentially close generals to watch
- 31st: This Louisville district has been in the hands of Republicans since Josie Raymond was redistricted out of it. This year, J-Town councilmember Tim Hall will try to beat incumbent Susan Witten.
- 48th: This northeast suburban Louisville district will again be a seat to watch. Whoever wins the primary will take on Ken Fleming.
- 65th: This NKY district, which includes much of Covington, will be on our watch list. It’s a rematch between Aaron Currin and Stephanie Dietz. Buddy Wheatley came close to retaining his seat in 2022, but this was a 16 point race in 2024. This will be a more Democratic year.
- 88th: This is where Cherlynn Stevenson lost last cycle.Democrat Alisha Chaffin will be running against Republican incumbent Vanessa Grosl.
- There are several races in Eastern Kentucky in districts which voted heavily for Trump who have active Democrats running hard. It will be a significant uphill climb for all of them, but it’s really encouraging to see such a group. Names on this list include Iva Markichevic Daley, Rebekah Skaggs, Pamela Lewis, and Johnny Ray Turner.
- In the Senate, Democrats have a real shot to pick up two seats: Julie Raque Adams will take on the winner of the primary we mentioned earlier, and Tyler Dean will be taking on Amanda Mays Bledsoe. I would also keep an eye on Lindsey Tichenor’s seat, where Chaz Stoess and Christian Furman are running as Democrats. This is a heavily Republican seat, but Tichenor is a pretty disliked Senator among Democrats.
Judicial Races
- Ashley Tackett Laferty, the lone Eastern Kentucky Democrat in the legislature, is not running for re-election and is instead running for District Court Judge in Floyd County.
- One Supreme Court seat is up for election this year. It’s Chief Justice Lambert’s seat but she does not have an opponent.
- The Court of Appeals also has an election. Will Moynahan was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Pamela Goodwine and is running to keep his seat but drew a challenger in Lucy Ferguson VanMeter, who is a Fayette County Circuit Court judge and married to former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Laurence VanMeter.
- Only two of Louisville’s 16 District Court judges drew challengers.
More fun facts
- My favorite candidate emails listed are twobuttons, libertysprisoner, time4change40, and theotherdonald.
- There’s a state senate candidate whose last name is Victery. That makes for an easy slogan.
- Jason Nemes and his dad Mike Nemes are both members of the legislature. Nima Kulkarni and her dad could potentially become the second current parent-child duo in the General Assembly.
- Johnny Ray Turner, who is now running for State House, is a former state senator. He lost his seat to the late Republican Johnnie Turner.
- 40 House candidates are running unopposed. 34 are Republicans. Womp womp. Eight Senators are running unopposed, all Republican. In Louisville, four legislators are unopposed, three Democrats (Joshua Watkins, Tina Bojanowski, and Mary Lou Marzian) and one Republican (Emily Callaway).
Which races are you watching? Any you want to know more about? Who are you going to help win in 2026?
Off to the races,
Jazmin and Robert
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