Looking at the 100 Ky House races of 2020, in 35 districts the incumbent was not challenged. Most of the incumbents in Ky’s Nov. Election are Republicans, though Ky has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

With 1,670,789 registered voters in the most current count (8/2020), Democrats are in the cat seat in Kentucky. Republicans come in second with 1,533,095, and the Groups have 313,681. Groups include Libertarian, Independent etc.

A few examples in the western districts, with PAC endorsed candidate bolded: District 1 (Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Hickman, McCracken-part) has about 4600 more Democrats than Republicans, but incumbent Steven Rudy (R) had no challenger. District 2 (Graves, McCracken-part) has nearly 4900 more Dems, but incumbent Richard Heath (R) only faces a Libertarian candidate.

Incumbent Randy Bridges (R) in District 3 is running against Democrat Corbin Snardon. Incumbents usually win, but since this district has 6400 more Dems than Reps let’s not take it for granted. Randy lost to a Democrat in 2014.

Incumbent Lynn Bechler (R-D4) is in a 3-way race, outnumbered by Dems.

Mary Imes (R-D5), faces Davis-Roberts, an Emerge-Ky candidate. Recently Ky lost Senate District 26 to an Emerge-Ky candidate.

Chris Freeland (R-D6) is the incumbent but this district has more than 5,000 more Dems than Reps.

Incumbent Walker Thomas (R-D8) faces Pam Dossett— who is endorsed by Planned Parenthood ($$$).

An interesting race is in District 13. D. J. Johnson (R) faces the incumbent Democrat Jim Glenn Jr., who has a pro-abortion voting record. Glenn defeated Johnson in the 2018 race by one point!

It is interesting to note the number of Republicans in Blue districts. Going back some decades, Democrats elected many conservatives. Heck, U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Ga, 1970s, ‘80s) served as chairman of the John Birch Society.

Looking at the years 1980 and 1990 in the American Conservative Union (ACU) many Democrats in Congress had as high ACU numbers as Republicans. Even in 2000 about 20 Democrats had mid-range ratings of 40 or above, but by 2010, only six did.

Now in 2020, we see Rep. John DeBerry, a pro-life Democrat Tennessee state representative, running as an independent after he was ousted from the Democratic Party last spring for his views on life and marriage.

Times have changed! Most Kentuckians are pro-life.

But with the changes in how people vote due to COVID, pro-lifers must work hard to get the vote out. EACH pro-life candidate from President Trump to the local council member NEEDS our support.

Kentucky has 38 Senate Districts. To maintain a smoother governing process, elections are held for odd, then for even-numbered districts every two years. This year, of the odd-numbered districts, seven are uncontested:

• District 1 - Jason Howell (R)
• District 15 - Rick Girdler (R)
• District 19 - Morgan McGarvey (D)
• District 25 - Robert Stivers (R)
• District 33 - Gerald Neal (D)
• District 35 - Denise Harper Angel (D)
• District 37 - David Yates (D)

Of the remaining 12 races,

• 3 pro-life incumbents face Libertarian and Independent candidates
• 5 pro-life incumbents face Democrat challengers
• 3 new Republican candidates face Democrats and others, and
• 1 Democrat faces an unaffiliated, write-in candidate

Of the active campaigners who are pro-life, it’s likely that those facing Democrats will need the most turnout to win their race. That said, we should not take any race for granted. The 28,433 votes for the Libertarian candidate sank Gov. Bevin’s boat. So, let’s make plain exactly what the Libertarian party stands for:

The right to life— “We support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others…”
On abortion— “Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.”

Here are the districts and the Republican incumbents facing a Libertarian:

It is hard to imagine that the incomparable Westerfield, Meredith or West could lose to these contenders, but there are many ways a race can be snagged, so let’s get out the vote for these fine Senators!

In reading the websites of the Libertarian and Democrat opponents of the pro-life incumbents, a central theme is that the incumbent is out of touch with the district. He does not understand that his constituents are struggling to make ends meet and cannot afford health care and other basics. The incumbent is accused of hobnobbing with lobbyists while ignoring the promises to teachers and school districts, etc., and he is not even sensitive to COVID-19 rules. Promises are made to fix everything by the superior methods and philosophies of the contenders.

Disinformation is promoted. For example, stunted views on the pro-life candidate’s legislative work and perspectives are presented. For that reason, the name of each in the below table is linked to the page on the legislature website that lists their 2020 record of sponsored bills.

One opponent pictures himself with Allison Lundergan Grimes, which seems a bad idea but perhaps proves that, no matter what, many Democrats will never change their vote. Of the counties in these Districts, 10 have more registered Republicans and 5 have more Democrats, but some counts are very close. For the below Democrat candidates, we saw no pro-life sentiment expressed on their campaign sites.

Now for a look at the five pro-life incumbents who are facing Democrat opponents:

Mr. Wheeler won a special election in March 2019 flipping his District to Republican after 50 years. His race will be hard with 17K more Democrats than Republicans in these counties.

Finally, let’s look at the three new Republican candidates on the General Election ballots and their opposition:

You will find out more about these candidates in the KRLA PAC Voter Guide. We can say that Republican Johnnie Turner easily won his Republican primary in Eastern Kentucky and has previously served in the Ky House of Representatives.

Storm was a KRLA PAC recommended candidate in the Primary. His opponent, Trebolo, states that he is “very pro-life”.

Joe Graviss currently serves in the Ky House D-56 (Fayette (Part), Franklin (Part), Woodford), having defeated his Republican opponent in 2018 by a sizable margin, and has been endorsed by retiring Senator Julian Carroll. He voted in favor of the Born Alive (SB 9) Bill but we do not know his full outlook on pro-life issues.

We read or witness the continual disparaging of our duly-elected pro-life President every day.

To help counter this trend, on Friday, July 31, KRLA issued a media release restating our endorsement of President Trump. Read it here.

Mail-in voting update

Last week, Secretary of State Adams stated that he is considering scaling back mail-in voting eligibility for the general election this fall. Gov. Beshear disapproved of this. He was quoted as saying that with the pandemic “more dangerous now than it was during the primary election,” Kentucky should continue no-excuse absentee voting this fall.

SOS Adams noted that Kentucky handled increased mail-in voting effectively and without fraud in the primary, but he is “dubious” that the same model can be fully replicated in the fall with significantly higher turnout.

“It’s not obvious that our county clerks or the post office can manage a 250% increase in absentee ballots,” Adams said. “That is based on feedback from state and local election officials from both major parties. They and I are concerned that going from 750,000 absentee ballots to 1.875 million absentee ballots, or more, would overload and crash our system.”

Read more.

An important announcement is on the KRLA PAC page. Let’s all get involved in helping to elect pro-life candidates!

A somewhat troubling discussion about the General Election prospects may be heard on the July 28 KET video covering state government and legislators’ questions on this issue. SOS Adams begins speaking at about 33 minutes.

Every day we hear news that breaks pro-life hearts. We read stories about COVID ‘necessitating’ Telemedicine and at-home procedures that could result in extreme trauma and even death for women; about decisions in our courts that favor abortion clinics, and demands made by legislators to force taxpayers to pay for abortion, related health insurance, research on aborted fetuses, and to fund abortion worldwide.

The next three months are sure to break all records for bad behavior by politicians, and we can only encourage prayer as the way forward.

UPDATE: 8-27-2020 | Governor Beshear announces commutations of 646 inmates. More
IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
»» Kentucky’s Constitution denies the vote to anyone with a felony conviction but allows the governor to restore that right to individuals (not legal as a BLANKET pardon for groups).
»» Gov. Beshear’s order does not require former felons to complete payment of fines or other legal costs before gaining the right to vote, an issue that has snarled implementation of a 2018 ballot initiative that ordered the restoration of voting rights in Florida.
»» In remarks at the State Capitol, Mr. Beshear urged the Legislature to remove that ban through an amendment, but said that he would seek to make the restoration process as automatic as possible until that occurred. (Ref)
»» Only the Kentucky voter has the authority to amend our constitution.

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The Courier-Journal stated on December 12, 2019 that the voting rights of more than 140,000 felons with completed sentences were restored by Gov. Beshear. Readers were simultaneously reminded about Bevin’s pardons of criminals through in-article links to stories.

Then, on March 4, 2020, the C-J reported about a state website that allows 152,000 Ky. felons to see if their voting rights have been restored. There is a big difference between 140,000 and 152,000.

Then on April 2, 2020 the C-J told us in a story headline that Gov. Beshear would release 186 inmates, “as coronavirus cases rapidly increase with 700 more coming soon.” But in the article the specific number was 743. “It's likely to be the first of at least two waves of early releases, with the second involving 743 inmates, state officials said.”

Then on April 28, 2020, the C-J announced that Gov. Beshear commuted the sentences of an additional 352 state inmates. They were near the end of sentences for nonviolent, nonsexual felonies.

Gov. Bevin had intended to ask Kentuckians to vote on a ballot measure as to whether or not felon voting rights should be restored. It would be the people’s decision.

An attorney friend has noted: I always thought that, if a person was convicted of a felony, they had shown poor judgment and should lose the right to vote. If they lived a good life for a period of time after serving their time, they could petition for a restoration of their voting rights, but I don't think it should be automatic. I also am not crazy about automatic expungement of records. It is one thing to give a person a second chance, but it is up to the person to show they are worthy of it, and potential employers should not be deceived.

Whatever your sincerely held belief on the matter, the number of felons who can vote this year is increasing as the pandemic evolves. How will this affect the 2020 Elections?

The “niche” is a marketing dream. With a niche, a business can so easily target numerous individuals to attract their interest and to educate them. To gain their loyalty. To—ask for their vote? But, who would do this? Who has the felons’ contact information?

Some races will be very close. For example, in the 2018 General Election, in District 96, Kathy Hinkle (D) won over incumbent representative Jill York (R) by 5 votes. In District 91, for that election, Cluster Howard (D) beat incumbent representative Toby Herald (R) by 7 votes. The image from Ballotpedia.com shows a race that was won by A SINGLE VOTE. Many other races in 2018 were extremely close, and they will be again in 2020.

Some (many?) citizens may not bother to vote in the Primary because of the “pandemic” process that requires more effort than ever before.

See this article for the new process.

Yes, pro-lifers currently hold a majority in the Kentucky House and Senate, but DON’T EVER IMAGINE that cannot change.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear received a big bipartisan boost on Monday with the endorsement from a longtime state legislator.

Republican state Sen. Dan Seum, of Fairdale, bucked the GOP to endorse Beshear, the state's attorney general, over incumbent Matt Bevin in the upcoming Kentucky gubernatorial election…

Read more

Lines are being drawn. If we are pro-life, we must vote that way. There are fewer than 100 days to the General Election. Our pro-life progress of the past several years depends on re-electing Governor Bevin. Be proud of this staunch defender of innocent human life. Your vote counts!