Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate venue to announce her candidacy for governor than the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort.
If the two-term Democrat wins next year, she’d be only the second woman to serve as governor of the Bluegrass State.
The first was Martha Layne Collins, in office from 1983 to 1987. Also a Democrat, she was lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. from 1979 to 1983. Like Coleman, Collins had been a schoolteacher.
“Growing up, Martha Layne Collins was my hero,” Coleman posted on Facebook last month. “I know that she blazed the trail I get to walk. I joined community members from Woodford County to remember her and all the women who went before us at their annual Women's History Month event.”
Coleman and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear were elected in 2019 and reelected in 2023. Not until after 1992 could governors and lieutenant governors succeed themselves for one more term.
Besides Coleman and Collins, two other women have been lieutenant governors: Thelma Stovall, a Democrat (1975-1979), and Republican Jenean Hampton (2015-2019). Hampton was also the first African American elected to statewide office in Kentucky.
Before she was lieutenant governor, Stovall was a Louisville labor leader who had been a state representative, state treasurer and secretary of state. She ran for governor in 1979 but lost to Brown in the Democratic primary. Brown beat former Republican Gov. Louie Nunn in the general election.
Collins defeated Republican Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame Major League pitcher, for governor. He was later elected to the U.S. House and Senate.
Other Democrats are expected to toss their hats in the ring for governor.
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