Easy Ride

    Of the 119 General Assembly seats on the ballot this year (19 even-numbered districts in the Senate, and all 100 House districts), only 68 are contested raced. The other 51 –four senators, 45 House members and two newcomers – are unopposed and get a free ride in November, according to an analysis by Kentucky Roll Call.
    Senators unopposed. Republicans (3): Tom Buford, Jimmy Higdon and David Williams; Democrats (1): Dorsey Ridley.
    Representatives unopposed. Democrats (22): Royce Adams, Rocky Adkins, John Arnold, Mitchell Denham, Kelly Flood, Jim Gooch, Dennis Horlander, Mary Lou Marzian, Reginald Meeks, Fred Nesler, Darryl Owens, Tanya Pullin, Jody Richards, Steven Riggs, Arnold Simpson, John Will Stacy, Fitz Steele, Wilson Stone, John Tilly, Jim Wayne, Susan Westrom, Brent Yonts, Republicans (25): DeWayne Bunch*, Dwight Butler, John "Bam" Carney, James Comer, Tim Couch, Jim DeCesare, Bob DeWeese, Myron Dossett, Sara Beth Gregory*, Bill Farmer, Joe Fischer, Danny Ford, Mike Harmon, Jeff Hoover, Brent Housman, Thomas Kerr, Adam Koenig, Brad Montell, David Osborne, Marie Rader, Sal Santoro, Jim Stewart, Tommy Turner, Alecia Webb-Edgington, Addia Wuchner.
    Open seats up for grabs. The four legislators still serving who first came to Frankfort in the 1960s and 1970s – Sens. Julian Carroll (1962) and David Boswell (1978), and Reps. Tom Burch (1972) and Jody Richards (1976) – will remember that the turnover in the General Assembly each cycle in those days was roughly one-third. Now, with higher pay and higher fringe benefits, including bonanza retirement opportunities, there is very little voluntary turnover.
    In this election cycle, for instance, there are two open Senate seats and five open House seats. In the Senate, Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville (Dist. 20), and Sen. Ed Worley, D-Richmond (Dist. 34), did not seek re-election. Both of those seats are expected to be highly competitive in the fall.
    In the House, Reps. Eddie Ballard, D-Madisonville (Dist. 10), Scott Brinkman, R-Louisville (Dist. 32), Ron Weston, D-Louisville (Dist. 37), Ken Upchurch, R-Monticello (Dist. 52), Harry Moberly, D-Richmond (Dist. 81) did not seek re-election. Of those five, two are Republicans and three are Democrats. The R seats are likely to stay R; in fact, the replacement for Upchurch is unopposed in the fall. One of the Democratic seats – Dist. 10 – is at risk of falling to the Republicans.
    * newcomers

Lowell Reese, Kentucky Roll Call, Frankfort