Updated 3:32 pm – Candidates are turning in their paperwork on Tuesday, the last day of the candidate filing deadline to run for elected office in 2022.
Those filing have until 4pm to file and appear on the ballot for the May 17 primary elections. This list will be updated throughout the day.
Congressional Districts:
1st Congressional District: Republican David Sharp, a U.S. Army veteran, has withdrawn from the congressional race has been running against Congressman James Comer, instead of the Congressional race, Sharp is now running for a state House seat in District 4. The move leaves Comer without a Republican primary, as of 2:35 pm on Tuesday.
House Districts:
24th House District – Rep. Brandon Reed, R-Hodgenville, will have a Republican primary this cycle. Courtney Gilbert, R-Hodgenville, filed a challenge. Democratic candidate John Pennington, from Horse Cave, also filed on the day of the deadline to run for the seat.
25th House District – With the retirement of Rep. Jim DuPlessis at the end of his current term the 25th House District is an open seat. There are currently one Democrat and three Republicans filed for the race. Democratic candidate Katherine Leonard of Elizabethtown filed for the seat in early January. On the GOP side, Elizabethtown Republican Bill Bennett is the latest candidate to file for the primary. It is unclear if the candidate is the same William Bennett who was fired in 2021 from JCPS after a physical altercation with a student. Steve Bratcher and Stan Routt, both of Elizabethtown, have also filed for the May primary.
28th House District – There will be a Democratic primary in this long held seat. Rep. Charles Miller, D-Louisville, has served since being elected in 1998. Almaria Baker, who ran for city council in 2018, will challenge Miller in the Democratic primary. Republican Jared Bauman has also filed for the election.
41st House District – Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, and Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, both filed on Monday to run for the newly crafted district which includes parts of Hikes Point, the Highlands, Audubon Park, and Clifton. The two were placed in the same district during the redistricting process by House Republicans. Three Republicans are also filing for the GOP primary they include Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell, Carrie Sanders McKeehan, and Bryan Shepherd.
42nd House District – Keturah Heron, the special election Democratic nominee, has officially filed on Tuesday for the seat under the new version of the map. This is an open seat after the retirement of Rep. Reginald Meeks at the end of 2021.
43rd House District – Robert LeVertis Bell, a community activist and public school teacher, has shifted his candidacy from the 42nd House District into a primary race in the 43rd District as the maps have also shifted. Ball will now face incumbent Rep. Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, in the May 17 primary.
61st House District – Republican Rep. Savannah Maddox, a potential gubernatorial challenger, drew a GOP primary on the filing deadline day. Jarrod Lynkins, a Republican from Walton, Kentucky, filed for the Republican primary race. Lynkins is a Marine Corps veteran who was running for Congress in the 4th District and has now decided to seek a place in the state House of Representatives.
65th House District – Republican Stephanie Dietz, of Covington, has filed to challenge Democratic Rep. Buddy Wheatley in this northern Kentucky district. Dietz practices family law and is the current Vice-President of the Northern Kentucky Bar Association.
79th House District – Three Democrats have now filed for the Lexington based district including incumbent Rep. Susan Westrom who was first elected in 1998. In addition to Westrom is Justin Bramhall an LGBTQ candidate, who previously filed in 2020. Bramhall withdrew from the primary in 2020, saying he thought Westrom would retire after her decades of service. In addition to Bramhall, a new challenger has entered the race as of early January in Chad Aull, a Democratic operative. Many are watching to see if Westrom pulls her candidacy.
85th House District – Daniel Carmack, a London city councilman has entered the GOP primary against Rep. Shane Baker, of Somerset. Baker is a freshman in the state legislature.
91st House District – First term Rep. Bill Wesley, R-Ravenna, is facing new challengers from the left and right in his newly crafted district after Kentucky Fried Politics reported on his checkered past. Republican Darrell Billings, of Stanton, the president of Tanner Chrysler Products has filed a primary challenge on Jan. 13. Martina Jackson, a Democrat from Richmond, Kentucky, who previously ran for the 82nd House District seat has also filed for the race.
97th House District – Republican incumbents Rep. Bobby McCool, of Van Lear, and Rep. Norma Kirk-McCormick, of Inez, will face-off in a GOP primary caused by redistricting as Kirk-McCormick officially filed on Tuesday for the race.
Senate Candidates:
4th Senate District: Incumbent Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, will have a GOP primary. Two Republican challengers have filed for the seat, Roxan Lynn Ashby, of Madisonville, and Michael MacDonald, of Alexandria, both filed on Tuesday. Democrat Bruce Pritchett, of Henderson, filed for the seat in November.
20th Senate District: This open seat will be one to watch as Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, retired and the district shifted. Several Republicans filed in the days leading up to the deadline including, Phyllis Sparks, a Republican activist and Vice Chair of the Boone Co. Republican Party. Calen Studler, a Republican from Frankfort, Kentucky, also entered the primary. Studler is the chair of the Franklin Co. GOP, and a previous candidate for the 7th District Republican primary against current Sen. Adrienne Southworth. Mike Templeman, a Republican and retired coal executive from Frankfort, Kentucky, also filed for the primary race. Templeman ran for Congress in 2010. Gex “Jay” Williams who last held office in 1998, has also filed for the race that could come down to geography. The newly created vacant 20th Senate District seat includes Franklin, Owen, Carroll, Gallatin, and part of Boone and Kenton County.
22nd Senate District: Republican Andrew Cooperrider was seeking to run for the state Senate in the 12th District before GOP lawmakers redrew the maps for their favored candidate, now Cooperrider is running in the GOP primary against Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville. Douglas was recently elected to full the unexpired term of the late Sen. Tom Buford.
24th Senate District: A fresh face will grace Frankfort after 2022 with this district up for grabs in an open seat election after the retirement of Sen. Wil Schroder, R-Wilder. Democrat Rene Heinrich, of Highland Heights, filed for the seat on Tuesday. There are three Republicans vying for their party’s nomination including Shelley “Funke” Frommeyer, Jessica Neal, of Cold Springs, and Chris Robinson, of Alexandria, Kentucky.
26th Senate District: Democratic Sen. Karen Berg, of Louisville, flipped this district for Democrats in 2020 when she won a special election to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Ernie Harris. Now, three Republicans are competing to challenge Berg. Republican Evertt Corley, who has previously run for the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2018 filed for the seat on Tuesday. Corley garnered media attention for racist comments made in 2014, according to a report from the Courier Journal. In addition to Corley, Mark Hignite Downer and Louisville Metro Councilman James Peden have both filed for the GOP primary.
