Republicans and Democrats finalize candidate lineups for Kentucky elections in 2024
By: Bruce Schreiner | AP
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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.”
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams ceremoniously closes the door to the room where candidates can file for office, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024 in Frankfort, Ky. Friday was the filing deadline for 2024 elections in Kentucky. [Bruce Schreiner | AP]
Candidates, political strategists and reporters clustered outside the secretary of state’s office in the final hours before the deadline. Popcorn was offered as a snack. When the deadline arrived, Secretary of State Michael Adams ceremoniously closed the door to the office where candidates file their paperwork.
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It lacked the drama of the deadline a year ago, when former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin teased a bid for a political comeback. Bevin arrived at the statehouse, gave a speech to a throng of media and then left without filing. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who ousted Bevin in 2019, went on to win reelection over GOP challenger Daniel Cameron in one of the most closely watched elections of 2023.
In 2024, congressional and statehouse candidates will run in districts drawn by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature. Democrats challenged the maps for congressional and state House districts, but Kentucky’s Supreme Court upheld the boundaries in a ruling last month. The legislature convened its 60-day session this week, and crafting the next two-year state budget will be at the top of the agenda.
In the presidential contest, President Joe Biden will be on the primary ballot in Kentucky along with fellow Democrats Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson. On the GOP side, former President Donald Trump will be on the Kentucky ballot in a field that includes Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump easily carried Kentucky in the last two general elections for president.
In legislative races, Republican incumbents drawing primary challengers ranged from relative newcomers to veteran state Reps. Kimberly Poore Moser and Michael Meredith who lead House committees.
With their lineup now complete, Republicans said they enter this year’s campaigns with momentum on their side, despite losing the state’s marquee gubernatorial election last year.
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“From the candidate filings, one thing is clear: there is more energy within the Republican Party than ever,” state GOP Chairman Robert Benvenuti said in a statement.
Democrats, hoping to cut into the GOP’s lopsided legislative majorities, said they targeted suburban and rural districts where Beshear ran well last year. State Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge offered a preview of his party’s agenda heading into the campaigns.
“This November, public education, healthcare access, infrastructure, the opportunity to lift everyone up and move Kentucky forward, all of that is on the line and the Kentucky Democratic Party intends to fight for it,” Elridge said in a statement.
Seeking new terms from Kentucky’s congressional delegation will be Republican Reps. James Comer, Brett Guthrie, Thomas Massie, Hal Rogers and Andy Barr, as well as Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey.
The lead up to the filing deadline was dominated by announcements from some prominent state lawmakers that they would not seek reelection in 2024. Among the lawmakers stepping down after this year are Republican Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, GOP state Rep. Kevin Bratcher and state Rep. Derrick Graham, the top-ranking Democrat in the House.
The Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to take on Georgia State in Rupp Arena as Mark Pope’s squad will look to move to 7-0 on the season. In the Wildcat’s first game of the week, they took down WKU, but for the first team, all season looked vulnerable.
The Wildcats were able to win this game 87-68, but there were some things Coach Pope’s team could have done better. Defensively the Wildcats were solid in the win, but the threes weren’t falling in this ball game.
A game like this was good for Kentucky because they have looked unstoppable against every team this season aside from Duke, so a little bit of struggle is a good thing. The threes won’t always fall, so the Wildcats need to learn to win a game when this is happening.
Now the Wildcats will take on Georgia State who is 4-3 on the season. The Panthers played Mississippi State earlier in the season, and the Bulldogs blew them out 101-61 in Starkville.
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ESPN doesn’t seem to think the Wildcats will struggle in this ball game as they give Kentucky a 98.2% chance to win.
The goal in this game for the Wildcats should be to keep working on the rebounding and taking care of the ball but also the shots need to fall.
The matchup between the Kentucky Wildcats and Georgia State will be on Friday the 29th at 7:00 pm et. Kentucky fans can watch this game on the SEC Network. Coach Pope and his team shouldn’t have any issue blowing out the Panthers on Friday.
Thanks to a dominant offensive performance from every position across the net, No. 12 Kentucky picked up a 3-1 victory over No. 24 Missouri Wednesday night in Columbia (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20) to capture the SEC Title outright for the second-consecutive season.
As they’ve done for much of the season, the Cats once again turned to their superstar sophomore to deliver under the brightest lights as DeLeye recorded a match-high 19 kills on an impressive .359 clip. She also picked up five service aces in the winning effort and rattled off a 5-0 service run to bring the Cats back within a point and kickstart a comeback after trailing by as many as six in the fourth and final set.
DeLeye wasn’t doing it by herself against the Tigers, however, as Megan Wilson (13) and Brooke Bultema (11) also eclipsed double figures in the match. Rounding out the scoring was Jordyn Dailey, who finished with nine kills on a .750 hitting percentage and Erin Lamb, who finished with eight terminations.
Kentucky was paced by senior setter Emma Grome who dished out a match-high 54 assists as the Cats hit .377 as a team.
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On the back line Eleanor Beavin led the way with 15 digs and a pair of service aces. Molly Tuozzo added 14 digs to go along with four assists and a service ace, Grome finished with eight digs, Wilson had six, and DeLeye had five.
Dailey led the defensive effort at the net with four rejections. Grome added three, Wilson had a pair, and Bultema and DeLeye each totaled one.
With the victory, Kentucky concludes the regular season with a 20-7 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the SEC and are currently riding an 11-match winning streak. With no matches left to play, the Cats claimed the SEC Title outright and the NCAA Tournament’s automatic qualifier over Texas, who currently sits in second place with three losses and a match still left to play. With the regular season concluded, Kentucky now awaits their NCAA Tournament berth as the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Selection Show airs Sunday evening at 6:00 pm ET. The top-16 seeded teams named by the committee will host the First and Second Rounds next weekend on campus.
Kentucky football lost a 2025 wide receiver when recruit Ja’kayden Ferguson re-opened his recruitment in mid-November. Now, they have gained a commitment from top 500 receiver Dejerrian Miller to take the open spot.
Miller is a 6’3″, 195 lb receiver out of Missouri. He is rated four stars, and is ranked as the number 379 overall player in the 2025 class in the 247sports composite rankings. He is the 53rd ranked receiver in the class.
Eight options to replace coach Mark Stoops
Coach Mark Stoops and his staff have put together a solid recruiting class for 2025 so far. It’s currently ranked 25th in the country, though it is the 13th best class of the 16 teams of the SEC.
Miller joins Quintin Simmons Jr., Preston Bowman, and Montavin Quisenberry as wide receivers who are committed to Kentucky for 2025. Miller’s size should be an advantage for him as he looks to find playing time. It’s good get for the Wildcats and Stoops, who continues to bring in quality players at the receiver position.
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