Cassie Chambers Armstrong wins special election for Kentucky Senate
Louisville Metro Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong will now be heading to work in Frankfort, winning her special election Tuesday for the vacant District 19 seat in the Kentucky Senate.
Armstrong, a Democrat, won with 77% of the vote, defeating Republican Misty Glin, who had lost a race for the Jefferson County Board of Education last fall.
The seat was vacated by Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat who won his race for Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District in November after serving 10 years in the state Senate, including four as his party's minority leader.
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An assistant law professor at the University of Louisville, Armstrong has served just more than two years on Metro Council.
Armstrong will be part of the Democrats' minority of seven members in the state Senate, where Republicans hold 30 seats. Another vacancy to fill the seat of departed GOP Sen. Ralph Alvarado in District 28 will take place May 16, the day of the statewide primary election for constitutional offices.
In a statement on her victory, Armstrong said she was "honored that the voters have entrusted me to go to the state Senate to stand up for our values and work to solve the problems facing our Commonwealth."
"Every day we see headlines about the majority in the General Assembly attacking LGBTQ youth, continuing to starve our public schools and the children that rely on them, and writing laws that put women’s lives at risk," Armstrong said. "There is an urgent need for change in Frankfort, and I’m grateful that the voters of the 19th Senate District have given me the chance to fight for them.”
Under statute, Armstrong can be sworn into the Senate after the State Board of Elections certifies her victory, which usually takes a week. This means she would be able to participate in the rest of the Kentucky General Assembly's 2023 legislative session, which ends in late March.
The Senate district Armstrong will serve is heavily Democratic, with more than 60% of registered voters in the district being registered with the party and 65% of the district voting for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
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In a statement celebrating her victory, Kentucky Democratic Party chairman Colmon Elridge said Armstrong "has stood with working families her entire career and on Tuesday they stood with her to make sure they keep a state senator who delivers for our families, fights for public education, and an economy that works for every Kentuckian."
Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Cassie Chambers Armstrong wins Kentucky Senate special election
