Trump Campaign files paperwork to be on Kentucky's ballot

FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign in Kentucky officially filed election paperwork on Friday. This will ensure that Trump’s name appears on the ballot in November.

Trump easily won Kentucky in both 2016 and 2020. His statewide campaign believes he’ll win Kentucky again in November.

“I predict that – because of the inflation crisis, because of the open borders, because the vast majority of Kentuckians think the country’s on the wrong track – Kentucky is going to vote overwhelmingly in 2024 to make a change and to bring Donald Trump and J.D. Vance back to the White House,” said Congressman Andy Barr, who serves as the chairman of Trump’s statewide campaign.

“We need the policies of Donald Trump, of border security, of price stability, of the affordability of living again. And we need energy dominance again and we need a strong US military to deter our adversaries,” added Barr.

Dr. Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said Kentucky voters have realigned themselves to Trump’s Republican Party “pretty strongly,” so it’s likely he will win the Commonwealth.

“It would take a miraculous change in our politics for Donald Trump not to win the state,” said Voss. “And if Donald Trump found himself struggling to keep Kentucky, it’s over anyhow.”

However, Vice President Kamala Harris has been generating excitement since she became the Democrats’ pick, so is that enough to make a change in Kentucky?

“The excitement Harris has generated will show up in Kentucky because people don’t vote thinking they’re going to swing a presidential election, they get caught up in the excitement. The Harris excitement will play out here. It won’t help Harris beat Donald Trump, but it could matter in some of our state legislative elections,” said Voss.