No new challengers for Barr at deadline. Who else filed to run in 2022?
The dust has settled, at least for now, on the filing period for candidates seeking office in 2022.
695 people have filed to run in this election year according to Secretary of State Michael Adams. A full list of who filed can be found on his office’s website.
Though it was already pushed back once – from earlier in the month to allow time for passage of new maps drawn by Republican majorities in the state legislature – potential for the filing deadline to be extended even further still exists.
Included in a lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court against House and U.S. Congressional District maps drawn by Republicans is a request for the filing deadline to be pushed back as needed if the maps are found to violate the Kentucky Constitution. The lawsuit filed by plaintiffs including Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, and the Kentucky Democratic Party argues that the maps were extremely gerrymandered and therefore violate the Kentucky Constitution.
Michael Abate, a Louisville attorney who’s representing the plaintiffs, said that he expects that if the court were to grant its motion against the maps then the filing deadline would be extended.
On the other side of the aisle, a Republican architect of the House map has already filed a bill that would extend the filing deadline to May and push the primary to August. But Jerry Miller, R-Eastwood, said his bill would only be passed by the Republican-dominated legislature if legal challenges to the new maps drag on past early March.
Among the candidates who have filed thus far, no Democrat with a significant amount of name recognition has filed to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr. Barr has held the seat since defeating Democrat Ben Chandler 2012.
Barr has raised close to $2 million already, according to a press release from his campaign. The closest Democratic challenger is Chris Preece, of Berea, who raised just over $16,000 as of the end of last year.
Senator Rand Paul’s seat is largely expected to be challenged in the general election by Democrat Charles Booker, who nearly beat Amy McGrath in a 2020 primary to face Sen. Mitch McConnell.
As of now, here are the candidates who have filed for U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate and Central Kentucky statehouse seats.
U.S. Congress
1st District
D - Jimmy C. Ausbrooks
R - James R. Comer (incumbent)
2nd District
R - S. Brett Guthrie (incumbent), E. Lee Watts, Brent Feher
D - Hank Linderman, William Dakota Compton
3rd District
D - Morgan McGarvey, Attica Scott
R - Mike Craven, Darien D. Barrios Moreno, Daniel Cobble, Rhonda Palazzo, Stuart N. Ray, Gregory P. Puccetti
4th District
R - George Washington, Thomas Massie (incumbent), Claire Wirth, Alyssa Dara McDowell
D - Matthew Lehman
5th District
D - Conor Halbleib
R - Gerardo Serrano, Harold “Hal” Rogers (incumbent), Rich Van Dam, Brandon Russell Monhollen, Jeannette Andrews
6th District
R - Andy Barr (incumbent), Derek Petteys
D - Geoffrey M. “Geoff” Young, Chris Preece
U.S. Senate
D - Charles Booker, John Merrill, Joshua Wesley Blanton Sr., Ruth Gao
R - Tami L. Stainfield, Valerie “Dr Val” Fredrick, Arnold Blankenship, John Schiess, Rand Paul (incumbent), Paul V. Hamilton
Central KY State Senate
District 12 (Boyle, parts of Fayette, Mercer, Woodford)
R - Amanda Mays Bledsoe
District 22 (parts of Fayette, Jessamine, Garrard)
D - Chuck Eddy
R - Donald Douglas (incumbent), Andrew Cooperrider
District 34 (Madison, parts of Fayette)
R - Jared K. Carpenter (incumbent), Rhonda Goode
D - Susan Cintra
District 28 (Bath, Clark, parts of Fayette, Menifee, Montgomery)
R - Ralph Alvarado (incumbent)
District 20 (parts of Boone, Carroll, Franklin, Gallatin, parts of Kenton, Owen)
D - Teresa Barton
R - Gex “Jay” Williams, Calen Studler, Mike Templeman, Phyllis Sparks
Central KY State House races
District 77 (Fayette)
D - George A. Brown Jr. (incumbent)
R - Terry Cunningham
District 76 (Fayette)
D - Ruth Ann Palumbo
District 75 (Fayette)
D - Lindsey Burke, Chris Couch
District 79 (Fayette)
D - Justin Bramhall, Susan Westrom (incumbent), Chad Aull
District 93 (Fayette)
R - Kyle Whalen
D - Lamin Swann
District 45 (parts Fayette and Jessamine)
R - Killian Timoney
District 39 (parts of Fayette and Jessamine)
D - Gwendolyn Mitchell
R - Matt Lockett (incumbent)
District 73 (parts of Fayette, Clark)
R - D. Ryan Dotson (incumbent)
D - Rory Houlihan, Thomas Weston Adams III
District 88 (parts of Fayette, Scott)
D - Cherlynn Stevenson (incumbent)
R - Jim Coleman
District 81 (Madison)
R - Deanna Frazier (incumbent)
District 72
R - Matthew R. Koch (incumbent)
District 62 (Scott)
R - Phillip R. Pratt (incumbent)
District 56 (Woodford, parts of Franklin and Jessamine)
R - Daniel A. Fister (incumbent)
D - Grayson Vandegrift, Ben Nolan
District 57 (Franklin)
D - Derrick Graham (incumbent)
R - Gary Reed Stratton
District 53 (Anderson, Spencer)
R - James Allen Tipton (incumbent)
D - Dustin Burley
District 55 (parts of Jessamine, Mercer, Washington)
R - Kim King (incumbent), Tony L. Wheatley
