Kentucky Republican Party
|
Republican Party of Kentucky
|
|
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Steve Robertson |
| Senate leader | Robert Stivers |
| House leader | Jeff Hoover |
| Headquarters | Frankfort, Kentucky |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Fiscal conservatism Social conservatism |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Colors | Red |
| Seats in the Upper House |
27 / 38
|
| Seats in the Lower House |
64 / 100
|
| Website | |
| www.rpk.org | |
The Republican Party of Kentucky is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Kentucky and follows its nationally established platform. Headquarters for the party have been established in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Republican Party of Kentucky gained relevancy in the political realm of Kentucky around the 1940s. Since this emergence, the party did poorly in state office elections until 2015, but saw consistent success on the national scale and in the Kentucky General Assembly. The party is organized into two main committees who hold the most authority in decision making within the party. In the 2015 Kentucky elections, the party captured the offices of Governor, Lt. Governor, Treasurer and Auditor, thus gaining the majority of the state executive offices for the first time in modern history. In 2016, the Republicans gained control of the state house for the first time since 1920.
After the times of the Solid South, Kentucky has a unique Republican history. Although it is a traditionally Democratic State, the Republican Party of Kentucky became more relevant in Kentucky political affairs around the 1940s and 1950s. Although candidates in presidential and congressional races began to fare well and see success in elections around this time, it did not translate to much success on the state and local levels. Despite receiving measurable amounts of votes and being competitive in elections, many of the candidates for gubernatorial and legislative races consistently failed to get elected into office.
Despite becoming consistently competitive in state elections, the party's strength in the 1970s and 1980s were comparable to that of the 1930s and 1940s. Between the time of the emergence of the Republican Party of Kentucky and the 1980s, the only Republican governor elected to office was Louie B. Nunn in 1967. This is considered one of the few high points for the party. Problems within the party organization contributed greatly to these struggles. Part of it is due to the turnover at the state party chairman position throughout the 1970s, which hindered any consistency and progress within the party organization. While in the 1980s, however, much of the difficulties for the party came from trying to get good candidates to run for office. For example, in the four state elections held between 1979 and 1987, Republicans only contested 53 out of the 100 State House of Representative seats and only 11 of the 19 State Senate seats.
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