Democrats win both House seats, concede 30th

Although dealt a political blow in the Eastern Kentucky state Senate race, Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jennifer Moore trumpeted the results in two House races as  signals that the party is "well on our way to turning the Bluegrass State blue once again."

Former attorney general and longtime Democratic House majority leader Greg Stumbo won his old seat back, defeating Republican Larry D. Brown by an unofficial vote total of 3,591 to 801 in the heavily Democratic 95th House District that covers most of Floyd County.

"His constituents know he will bring extensive knowledge and strong leadership to his District and to the legislature," Moore said of Stumbo.

Meanwhile, Will Coursey, a Symsonia banker and former aide to House Speaker Jody Richards, won the open 6th House District seat in western Kentucky over Republican Marvin Wilson, an Eddyville lawyer. Coursey will replace longtime Democratic Rep. J.R. Gray, whom Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear hired in December as his labor commissioner. Coursey was leading 5,029 votes to Wilson's 2,537 in Marshall and the district's part of McCracken counties. UPDATE at 9:57 p.m.: Lyon County's precincts showed Coursey winning 1,101 to 961 for Wilson, giving Coursey an overall win of 6,130 to 3,498.

Of Coursey's win, Moore's statement said:

"Having served for five years as Executive Assistant to House Speaker Jody Richards, Representative-elect Coursey is familiar with the legislative process and able to begin the hard work of governing on day one of his tenure. He ran a great race as is evidenced by his two-to-one victory."

Added Richards, the Democratic House Speaker in a separate statement: "There aren’t two people who could represent their districts better.”

But the biggest race of the night remained the 30th Senate District. Democrat Scott Alexander, a former state representative from Hazard, lost the race to Republican Rep. Brandon Smith of Hazard, despite strong efforts by Beshear and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo on Alexander's behalf.

That district -- composed of Bell, Harlan, Leslie and Perry counties -- also has an overwhelming 2-1 advantage in registered Democrats with 43,708 compared to 26,882 Republicans and 1,677 "others."

Smith won Bell County, which is evenly split in registration, by about 800 votes. Smith won Leslie County, which has nearly an 8-1 advantage for Republicans, by another 800 votes. And Smith and Alexander essentially split the votes in Harlan County, with Alexander winning by 72 votes.

Alexander won in Perry County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 16,441 to 4,175, by about 1,150 votes, according to unofficial results pending the final count of the last precinct.

That gave Smith a 401 vote win overall.

Moore, the Democratic Party chairman, downplayed the defeat in the Senate district.

"Scott Alexander fought a tough race and rallied Democratic voters in Bell, Leslie, Harlan and Perry counties to turn out in record numbers. We can all be proud of Scott's performance in this race," Moore said.

Smith, speaking to reporters in his House office in the Capitol Annex, complimented Alexander for his work ethic in the race. "One thing he's shown me is he's not a quitter," Smith said. "I admire him."

- Ryan Alessi

Comments

[Stopthegoodoleboys!]

Career politician and power-monger Stumbo has his little fiefdom back! Now all the good ole boys are in place to move us back to the last century!

Oh, I forgot, they lost Mongiardo's seat! Maybe there is hope for us! David Williams is a big obstacle to Beshear's plans to bankrupt us, and he just got bigger!

[Kelsey]

David Williams is a lugnut. We already have committments from republicans in the state Senate.
Kelsey

[Edgar]

Guess not. (refer to previous post under "UPDATED: Unofficial totals show Smith won by 401")

[JW]

Kelsey, are you sure the Senate isn't working to have you committed? You are so full of yourself, you think you pithy comments actually matter to your "circle of personal friends". Is that "friends" or "frauds"? If you are symbolic of the average Kentucky democrat, we are in a sorry condition.

[Paintsville]

Good job Beshear! You opened your mouth large enough for 2 feet to be placed into it. Please worry about GOVERNING not campaigning in the future.

[Bob Hope]

Did Ms. Moore really say that this election showed Kentucky was:

"well on our way to turning the Bluegrass State blue once again."

Let's see, the Dems held onto two seats and lost a seat. They didn't gain squat. If anything, this election showed that even with an unpopular republican president nationally, with a republican governor who just got blown out of the water last fall and with the current democratic governor throwing the entire weight of his office into these races...the republicans were still able to pick up a strong democrat senate seat.

So one last try...who won last night Ms. Moore?

[Kentucky won]

The commonwealth won is who won last night.

It is time for our governor to govern and quit meddling in local politics.

He has already squandered away his honeymoon and now it is time to pay for the band. He had better figure something else out real quick, the casino issue is dead, dead, dead and deader than dead.

[m]

It was Alexander's picture in the paper that did him in. Could he look more like a dweeb?