Westerfield: ‘We need people in both parties to stand up to the extremists.’

Whitney Westerfield is leaving his state Senate seat and a plum position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He wants to spend more time with his young family, which will soon be five children, as his wife, Amanda, prepares to give birth to triplets. But he’s also fed up with the partisanship and toxicity of Frankfort and politics in general, particularly when it comes to his party’s embrace of Donald Trump, the former president and presumed GOP nominee in November.

Here’s a closer look at what he says is wrong with Kentucky politics:

On his departure:

“When I first got elected, I didn’t have any children. Now I have a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old, and they know that I’m gone and it’s harder to miss things.” His daughter collided heads with a classmate and cut her face. “It was really really puffy and she was crying and she doesn’t cry. And when you’re Dad, all you want to do is be there and give them a hug and love on them. It kills me that I can’t be there because I gotta be here. Not only do I have to be away, but I have to be in this environment.”

On his changing political perspective:

“When I got this job, I had been a prosecutor. And I viewed the world as a prosecutor views the world. Over time, I realized that there’s a much bigger picture to see than just this, and a lot of context and a lot of important information, a lot of opinion. And conscientious, reasonable thought exists here and is worthy of consideration. I feel like I’ve been willing to at least entertain this. I might not agree with everything. But I’m willing to hear it. There’s no question that I’m a conservative person, I hold conservative positions and values. But I can text with the ACLU of Kentucky, and I’ll take their meetings. Twelve years ago, Whitney? I don’t know that 12 years ago, Whitney would have been as willing to just hear what somebody else has to say.”

On supporting last year’s medical marijuana legalization:

“I got a call coming in from a constituent — at that time he had never written me a check. He may not have voted for me. I’ve known him all my life. He’s not active politically at all. He called and said my mother just passed away and in her last six months of life she would not have been able to eat or sleep if we had been getting her marijuana to give her peace because there was no other medicine that would help. That story made a difference. And I thought you know what if it was my mom or my wife or my brother I’d want the same thing.”

On his work on the Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention Act:

“The Uvalde shooting, which was just as dreadful and tragic as every other school shooting or mass shooting we’ve seen in Kentucky and outside of Kentucky. But on that day in 2022, all I could think about was my kids making the phone calls those kids were making. And I thought why aren’t we willing to have a conversation about it? I don’t know what it needs to look like yet. I don’t know what the best solution is. And I’m open to hearing and I’ve said this to every opponent of CARR. You tell me what you think we should do? What’s your solution?”

On Republicans’ embrace of Trump and his dislike of him:

“I don’t think the others don’t see it. I think it’s even worse. It is worse. I think the others aren’t willing to go out on the limb ... So it’s it’s it’s lonely out there on the skinny branch all by myself. We need people in both parties to stand up to the extremists and say they’re wrong when they’re wrong. That’s why I say what I say. Not everybody in my caucus agrees, but maybe all but one or two. But they all won’t say anything because they don’t want to get blasted by people at home.”