Here's who is running for the 2024 Kentucky legislature in Louisville

Rachel Smith, Lucas Aulbach and Rebecca Grapevine, Louisville Courier Journal
Updated ·7 min read
The Senate chamber was empty before gaveling in on the first day of the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort, Ky. Jan. 2, 2024
The Senate chamber was empty before gaveling in on the first day of the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort, Ky. Jan. 2, 2024

Dozens of seats in the Kentucky statehouse are up for grabs this year as Republicans seek to maintain their grip on both chambers.

The GOP holds a 31-7 advantage in the Senate and a 79-20 advantage with one vacancy in the House. The supermajorities are putting more and more pressure on the primaries, as Republicans square off between different branches of the party, and Democrats fail to field candidates in some districts.

Democrats failed to field candidates for 44 of the 100 House seats and 8 of the 19 Senate seats up for election this year. Meanwhile, Republicans failed to field someone in 12 House races and four Senate races.

House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said Friday that as the state has trended toward the GOP, "more and more seats are determined in the Republican primary."

"I think that, you know, as Kentucky becomes a more and more Republican state that, yes, the battles tend to move toward primaries, and I think you'll see the same thing in Democratic primaries as well."

The deadline to file for office was 4 p.m. Friday. Here's who's running for seats in Louisville-area districts, according to filings with the Secretary of State's Office.

Incumbents are listed in the bolded subheading alongside their district number.

Two current state representatives, Kevin Bratcher in District 29 and Josie Raymond in District 41, have decided to run for Metro Council.

Senate District 19 - Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D)

  • Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D) — Armstrong has been in office since early 2023 after winning a special election for the District 19 seat in the Kentucky Senate, which had been vacated by Morgan McGarvey, who now is running for reelection in the U.S. House. Armstrong is a former Louisville Metro councilwoman.

Senate District 33 - Gerald Neal (D)

  • Gerald Neal (D) —  Neal has been in office since 1989 and hails from Louisville. He currently serves as the minority floor leader.

  • Attica Scott (D) — Scott is a former a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing District 41. She assumed that office in 2017 and left on January 1, 2023. In 2022, she ran for Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District but lost in the primary to McGarvey. Scott is a former Louisville Metro councilwoman.

  • Michael W. Churchill Jr. (D) — Churchill is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

Senate District 35 - Denise Harper Angel (D)

  • Keturah Herron (D) —  Herron is a current state represntative and has been in that office since 2022.

Senate District 37 - David Yates (D)

  • David Yates (D) — Yates has been in office since 2021 and serves as the minority whip. He is a former Louisville Metro councilman.

  • Calvin Leach (R) — Leach is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 28 - Jared Bauman (R)

  • Jared Bauman (R) — Bauman has been in office since 2023.

  • Almaria Baker (D) — Baker is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 29 - Kevin Bratcher (R)

  • Timothy Findley, Jr. (D) — Findley is a pastor, community organizer and former Louisville mayoral candidate in 2022.

  • Matthew Pfaadt (D) — Pfaadt is a native Louisvillian and engineering consultant, according to his campaign website. He describes himself on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, as "ready to work for educators, unions, and families."

  • Ricky Santiago (D) — Santiago is the Louisville Chapter President of The National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce.

  • Wyatt Allison (R) — Allison is is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • Chris Lewis (R) — Lewis is a legislative assistant for Louisville Metro Councilman Robin Engel. He has worked in Metro Council for 18 years.

  • Debbie Peden (R) — Peden is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 30 - Daniel Grossberg (D)

  • Daniel Grossberg (D) - Grossberg has been in office since 2023.

  • Mitra Subedi (D) — Subedi is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 31 - Susan Tyler Witten (R)

  • Susan Tyler Witten (R) — Witten has been in office since 2023.

  • Colleen Orsella Davis (D) — Davis is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • Carma Bell Marshall (D) — Marshall is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 32 - Tina Bojanowski (D)

  • Tina Bojanowski (D) — Bojanowski has been in office since 2019.

House District 33 - Jason Nemes (R)

  • Jason Nemes (R) — Nemes has been in office since 2017 and serves as the majority whip.

  • Taylor Jolly (D) — Jolly is from Louisville, according to their candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 34 - Sarah Stalker (D)

  • Sarah Stalker (D) — Stalker has been in office since 2023.

House District 35 - Lisa Willner (D)

  • Lisa Willner (D) — Willner has been in office since 2019.

House District 36 - John Hodgson (R)

  • John Hodgson (R) — Hodgson has been in office since 2023.

  • Colin Daugherty McDowell (D) — McDowell is from Louisville, according to their candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • William "Woody" Zorn (D) — Zorn is the grandson of Wilson Wyatt, who served as former Mayor of Louisville in the 1940s and lieutenant governor in the early 1960s, according to a campaign release via his social media. In the campaign release, Zorn said he is an educator and speech and debate coach.

House District 37 - Emily Callaway (R)

  • Emily Callaway (R) — Callaway has been in office since 2023.

  • John Stovall (D) — Stovall is president of the Jefferson County Public Schools' bus drivers union, Teamsters Local Union 783.

House District 38 - Rachel Roarx (D)

  • Rachel Roarx (D) —  Roarx has been in office since 2023.

  • Carrie Sanders McKeehan (R) — McKeehan is a Louisville native and special education teacher in JCPS, according to her campaign website.

House District 40 - Nima Kulkarni (D)

  • Nima Kulkarni (D) —  Kulkarni has been in office since 2019.

  • William Zeitz (D) — Zeitz is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 41 - Josie Raymond (D)

  • William "Rick" Adams (D) — Adams is from Louisville and is an associate with the Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird law firm, which has represented The Courier Journal and other news outlets in First Amendment cases. He is also deputy counsel for the Kentucky Democratic Party and was a member of the legal team that argued against new boundaries for state House and congressional districts.

  • Mary Lou Marzian (D) — Marzian is former state representative. After redistricting in 2022, Marzian and Raymond both became part of District 41. Marzian, who had been in the legislature for 28 years, eventually withdrew herself from the race and threw her support behind Raymond in that race. She now seeks a return to Frankfort.

  • Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (R) — Cottrell is an educator who has worked as a curriculum developer for K-12 Spanish programs, according to her campaign website.

House District 42 - Keturah Herron (D)

  • Jonathan Musselwhite (D) — Musselwhite is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • Jack Walker (D) — Walker is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • Joshua Watkins (D) — Watkins is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

House District 43 - Pamela Stevenson (D)

  • Pamela Stevenson (D) — Stevenson has been in office since 2021. Last year, she ran for state attorney general and lost to Russell Coleman in the general election.

House District 44 - Beverly Chester-Burton (D)

  • Beverly Chester-Burton (D) — Chester-Burton has been in office since 2023.

  • Daniel Deshawn Cockrell (D) — Cockrell is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

  • Shreeta Waldon (D) — Waldon is from Louisville, according to a candidate filing. No other information was immediately available.

More: Louisville Metro Council elections: Who's in, who's out and what's uncontested

House District 46 - Al Gentry (D)

  • Al Gentry (D) — Gentry has been in office since 2017.

  • Bob DeVore (R) —  The Louisville Republican is a perennial candidate who has run unsuccessfully for half a dozen offices in Jefferson County. In 2023, he ran for governor.

House District 48 - Ken Fleming (R)

  • Ken Fleming (R) — Fleming has been in office since 2021.

  • Kate Farrow (D) — Farrow describes herself as "an advocate for democracy and common sense policy for all, not party division" in her campaign via social media.

  • Debbie Wesslund (D) — Wesslund is from Louisville and is a former Jefferson County Board of Education member (2007-2014). She aims to "invest in people" by supporting public education while putting more resources toward a cleaner environment and health care, she said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 2024 Kentucky legislature candidates in Louisville districts