Longtime Lexington state Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo will not seek re-election after 30+ years

Lexington’s longest serving state representative is hanging it up after more than 30 years of service.

Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, announced Thursday that she won’t seek re-election next year to her House District 76 seat after 17 terms.

“I will be forever grateful for the trust my constituents have given me to work on issues that affect all of us. I thank my family and friends for encouraging and always supporting me,” Palumbo said in a statement.

Palumbo is the longest-serving member of the House and the longest-serving woman in the state legislature. She’ll have served 34 years by the end of it.

Her departure makes five of the House’s 20 Democrats who’ve announced they won’t run again in 2024. Earlier this month, House Minority Floor Leader Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, and House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts, D-Newport, made it public that they weren’t running for re-election.

On the campaign trail, Palumbo ran either uncontested races or won by a significant margin in recent years.

No other person, Republican or Democrat, has filed to run for House District 76, which covers parts of downtown, east Lexington and north Lexington. However, Palumbo’s son James “Jamie” Palumbo has filed an intent to spend on a campaign for the seat with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

In her statement, Palumbo highlighted her work fighting for “fairness and equal rights for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters” as well as women’s health care.

“Passing legislation to help women, children, families, the elderly, consumers and small business has made me proud,” Palumbo said. “Working with ‘The Ladies of the House,’ The Women’s Health Act of 1998 was passed, which required insurance companies to cover reconstruction surgery following a mastectomy.”

She also mentioned serving as House Economic Development Committee Chair for 20 years where she secured funding for Lexington landmarks like Rupp Arena and Coldstream Park.

As Palumbo and Graham depart at year’s end, that will leave just one House Democrat left in the 100-person chamber who served when Democrats were in the majority. Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington, served a term before Republicans gained control of the House after the 2016 election.