Mac Brown steps down as chairman of Kentucky Republican Party

Eleanor McCrary, Louisville Courier Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, center, laughs with Kentucky Republican Party chairman Mac Brown in the state's Senate chambers in September 2021.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, center, laughs with Kentucky Republican Party chairman Mac Brown in the state's Senate chambers in September 2021.

Mac Brown, a leader of the Republican Party's surge in Kentucky, is stepping down as chairman of the state party.

Since Brown assumed leadership of the Republican Party of Kentucky in 2015, the GOP seized control of the Kentucky House and retained it in the state Senate. For three years, there was a Republican "trifecta" in the state, with the governor and the majority of members in both legislative chambers being members of the GOP.

That ended when Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman took office in 2019, but every other state-elected position has been held by a Republican since then. Republicans also occupy both of Kentucky's U.S. Senate seats - Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul - and five of the six Kentucky seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2022, Republicans overtook Democrats in registered voters for the first time in Kentucky history.

"The RPK has turned the Republican Party from the minority party to the majority party in the Commonwealth," Brown said in an email to Republican State Central Committee members. "Now it is time for me to step down from the Chairman position to allow new and fresh leadership to take the party to the next level."

Brown is the former vice president of the Brown-Forman Corp., which sells Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve among other brands. He retired from the company several years ago, said Brown-Forman spokesperson Elizabeth Conway. He is the current chairman of the board of directors for the Frazier Museum, according to its website, and was previously on the University of Louisville's President's Council.

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The Kentucky Republican Party will elect a new chairman, who will be responsible for creating a strategic vision and plan for the party, according to the committee's rules.

The party did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday about when the election will be held or whom the candidates may be.

Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at EMcCrary@courier-journal.com or at @ellie_mccrary on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Republican Party: Mac Brown stepping down as chairman