United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2016
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The 2016 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 8, 2016 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Kentucky, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on May 17.
Incumbent Republican Senator Rand Paul filed for re-election in December 2015, Mayor Jim Gray of Lexington filed to run against Paul for the Senate in late January 2016. In the general election, Paul defeated Gray by a 15-point margin.
If Paul had become the Republican presidential (or vice-presidential) nominee, state law would have prohibitted him from simultaneously running for re-election. In March 2014, the Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would allow Paul to run for both offices, but the Democratic-controlled Kentucky House of Representatives declined to take it up. Paul spent his own campaign money in the 2014 legislative elections, helping Republican candidates for the State House in the hopes of flipping the chamber, thus allowing the legislature to pass the bill (Democratic Governor Steve Beshear's veto could have been overridden with a simple majority). However, the Democrats retained their 54-46 majority in the State House.
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