Kentucky’s May 21 Primary Election was an encouraging night for the pro-family conservative movement with strong performances by pro-life, pro-family, and pro-school choice candidates throughout the Commonwealth.
At the top of the ticket and at the federal level, there were no real surprises in either the Republican or Democratic primaries. In the race for President, former President Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the Republican primary in Kentucky with 85% of the vote and over 215,000 votes.
In the Democratic primary, incumbent President Joe Biden received 71% of the vote and over 131,000 votes (though, interestingly, 18% of Kentucky Democrats voted “UNCOMMITTED” in the race).
There was significant (and very revealing) amounts of money spent in several hotly-contested State House and Senate races in the Republican primary. As reported in the media, the deceptively named “Commonwealth Conservative Coalition PAC,” funded by the JCPS teachers’ unions, the gambling industry, the Kentucky Hospital Association, and other big corporations, spent nearly $1 million dollars mainly seeking to defeat conservative, pro-family legislators.
But despite the massive spending and deceptive ads, Republican voters in Kentucky overwhelmingly choose to keep their conservative, pro-family legislators in several notable House races that the Commonwealth Conservative Coalition PAC engaged in. Rep. Candy Massaroni (HD 50), Rep. Marianne Proctor (HB 60), Rep. Steve Doan (HD 69), and Rep. Bill Wesley (HD 91), all incumbent legislators that TFFKY has recognized as Kentucky Family Champions based upon their voting record, won their primary races.
Other notable pro-family legislators, also recognized as Family Champions, that easily won their races include: Rep. Josh Calloway (HD 10), Rep. Savannah Maddox (HD 61), and Rep. Timmy Truett (HD 89).
And in arguably the two highest profile races in HD 66 (portions of Boone county) and HD 45 (portions of Fayette & Jessamine counties), the Commonwealth Conservative Coalition PAC and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce backed candidates were beat handily. In the open seat race in HD 66, former State Rep. Ed Massey, a strong opponent of school choice, was defeated by grassroots conservative candidate TJ Roberts by 48%.
In HD 45, Republican voters sent a huge message with incumbent State Rep. Killian Timoney being defeated by his conservative, pro-family challenger Thomas Jefferson by 44%. Notable, Rep. Timoney was the lowest scoring Republican on the Kentucky Family Legislative Scorecard for the last 3 legislative session. This included voting against the Save Women’s Sports Act to protect female athletes, the Help Not Harm Act to ban gender transitions on kids, and several bills supporting school choice.
In the Kentucky Senate, two of the most notable Republican races were the contested open seats in SD 11 (Boone county) and SD 17 (Scott and portions of Fayette and Kenton counties). In SD 11, Steve Rawlings, the current State Rep. in HD 66 and a Kentucky Family Champion, easily won the race with 77% of the vote. In SD 17, Matt Nunn won the race with 67% of the vote.
In another highly contested, 3-way Republican primary race in SD 7, Aaron Reed looks to have closely won a race that also included incumbent Sen. Adrienne Southworth and Ed Gallrein.
With a hotly contested primary season now completed, all voters in Kentucky will have the opportunity to select their state legislators, vote on Kentucky’s educational choice constitutional amendment, and vote in other important local, state, and federal races, including the Presidential race, during the 2024 General Election on Tuesday, November 5.
You can view the full Republican and Democratic primary election results on the Kentucky Secretary of State website here, and you can also view the Kentucky iVoterguide which has been updated to note the primary election winners.
