Primary Elections in the Louisville Region

Kentucky’s primary elections were held yesterday and featured several big national and key local elections on the ballot, including filling the Senate seat vacated by Mitch McConnell. The meat of the ballot was Louisville Mayor, Louisville Metro Council and state legislative elections. This was the first election where Louisville Mayoral and Metro Council elections were nonpartisan. According to the Kentucky Lantern, unofficial voter turnout was 25.67% statewide which is about 5% higher than turnout of the last midterm election primaries.

Congress

U.S. Senate

Senator Mitch McConnell announced in 2025 that he would not seek reelection, creating the first Kentucky Senate vacancy since 2011. After long fought primaries on both sides, Congressman Andy Barr (R) and Charles Booker (D) will face off in the General Election in November.

U.S. House of Representatives

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives run for reelection every two years. Below are the results of primaries and general election matchups as applicable.

House District 1: Incumbent James Comer (R) won his primary and will face John Williams (D) in the General Election.

House District 2: Incumbent Brett Guthrie (R) won his primary and will face Megan Wingfield (D) in the General Election.

House District 3: Incumbent Morgan McGarvey (D) did not face primary opposition. He will face Maria Teresa Rodriguez, winner of the Republican Primary, in the General Election.

House District 4: Incumbent Thomas Massie (R) lost his primary bid to Ed Gallerein. Gallerein, who will face Melissa Claire Strange, winner of the Democratic Primary, in the General Election.

House District 5: Incumbent Hal Rogers (R) won his primary and will face Ned Pillersdorf (D) in the General Election.

House District 6: Incumbent Andy Barr did not seek reelection. Ralph Alvarado won the Republican Primary and will face Democratic Primary winner Zach Dembo (D) in the General Election.

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Louisville Mayor

This is the first Louisville mayoral election since state legislation was enacted in 2024 making local elections nonpartisan. This means the primary is a “jungle primary” where all candidates appear on all ballots and the top two vote-getters move on to the General Election. Mayor Craig Greenberg and current Metro Councilmember Shameka Parrish-Wright were the top vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary and will be the candidates in the General Election.

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Metro Council 

All odd numbered Metro Council districts were up for election this year and were also nonpartisan for the first time. In the jungle primary format, if there were only two candidates in a district they both automatically moved to the General Election. Results are below:

District 1: Councilmember Tammy Hawkins will face JaRee Gardner in the General Election.

District 3: Incumbent Shameka Parrish-Wright did not seek reelection. Keisha Dorsey and Kumar Rashad will face off in the General Election.

District 5: Councilmember Donna Purvis will face Ray “Sir Friendly” Barker in the General Election.

District 7: Councilmember Paula McCraney will face Catherine Timmerman in the General Election.

District 9: Incumbent Andrew Owen did not seek reelection. Alison Brotzge-Elder and Andrea Parr will face off in the General Election.

District 11: Councilmember Kevin Kramer will face Melina Hettiaratchi in the General Election.

District 13: Councilmember Dan Seum Jr. will face Ernie Brummitt in the General Election.

District 15: Councilmember Jennifer Chappell did not face any opposition.

District 17: Councilmember Markus Winkler will face Nancy-Lynne Walker in the General Election.

District 19: Councilmember Anthony Piagentini will face Alex Feria in the General Election.

District 21: Councilmember Betsy Ruhe will face Lonnie Joseph in the General Election.

District 23: Councilmember Jeff Hudson will face Ainsley Jones in the General Election.

District 25: Councilmember Khalil Batshon did not face any opposition.

State Senate and House of Representatives 

At the state level, there were a number of primary challenges, including races for seats vacated by representatives not seeking reelection. Those results are below: 

Senate District 14: Senator Jimmy Higdon did not seek reelection. The General Election for this district will be between Ben Mudd, winner of the Republican Primary and Carrie Gribbins Truitt, who was unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

House District 27: Representative Nancy Tate did not seek reelection. The General Election for this district will be between Joseph Redmon winner of the Republican Primary, and Susan Doman, who was unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

House District 43: Representative Pamela Stevenson did not seek reelection. Robert LeVertis Bell won the Democratic primary and is unopposed in the General Election.

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The following state legislators faced challengers in their primary, and the subsequent general election match-ups are listed.

House District 10: Representative Josh Calloway won the Republican primary. He will face John Whipple in the General Election.

House District 30: Representative Daniel Grossberg lost his primary to Mitra Subedi. Subedi will not face a general election challenger.

House District 36: Representative John Hodgson won the Republican primary. He will face William Zorn the General Election.

House District 44: Representative Beverly Chester-Burton also lost her primary to Kenya Wade who will not face a general election challenger.

Senate District 10: Senator Matt Deneen won the Republican Primary. He will face Christopher Gastrost in the General Election.

Senate District 36: Senator Julie Raque Adams won the Republican Primary. She will face Sarah McIntosh in the General Election.

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The following incumbent state legislators will face challengers in the general election after going unopposed in their respective primaries: 

Senate District 6: Senator Lindsey Tichenor (R) will face Christian Furman (D) in the General Election.

Senate District 26: Senator Karen Berg (D) will face Everett Corley (R) in the General Election.

House District 28: Representative Jared Bauman (R) will face Almaria Baker (D) in the General Election.

House District 29: Representative Chris Lewis (R) will face Cassie Blausey (D) in the General Election.

House District 31: Representative Susan Witten (R) will face Tim Hall (D) in the General Election.

House District 33: Representative Jason Nemes (R) will face Jennifer Hardin (D) in the General Election.

House District 34: Representative Sarah Stalker (D) will face Victoria Ligon (R) in the General Election.

House District 35: Representative Lisa Wilner (D) will face Bret Shultz (R) in the General Election.

House District 37: Representative Rachel Roarx (D) will face Carrie McKeenhan (R) in the General Election.

House District 46: Representative Al Gentry (D) will face Brad Woolridge (R) in the General Election.

House District 48: Representative Ken Fleming (R) will face Suhas Kulkarni (D) in the General Election.

House District 50: Representative Candy Massaroni (R) will face JD Netherton (D) in the General Election.

House District 58: Representative Jennifer Decker (R) will face Andrew Monarch (D) in the General Election.

House District 59: Representative David Osborne (R) will face Stephanie White (D) in the General Election.

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For election results outside of the Louisville region, check here.  