2016 Kentucky Senate election

2016 Kentucky Senate election
19 out of 38 seats in the Kentucky Senate; 20 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Republican hold Democratic hold; Popular vote:; 60–70% 70–80% >90% ; 60–70% 80–90% >90%
Senate President before election; Robert Stivers; Republican	Elected Senate President ; Robert Stivers; Republican

The 2016 Kentucky Senate election was held on November 8, 2016. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were held on May 17. Half of the senate (all odd-numbered seats) were up for election. Republicans maintained their majority in the chamber without gaining or losing any seats.

A numbered map of the senate districts at the time can be viewed here.

Overview

Party		Candidates		Votes	%	Seats

Party		Opposed	Unopposed	Votes	%	Before	Won	After	+/−
	Republican	6	7	420,578	56.12	27	11	27	-
	Democratic	6	6	328,915	43.88	11	8	11	-
Total		12	13	749,493	100.00	38	19	38	±0
Source: Kentucky Secretary of State

Retiring incumbents

A total of two senators retired, neither of whom ran for other offices.

Republican

5th: Carroll Gibson (Leitchfield): Retired.^[1]
15th: Chris Girdler (Somerset): Retired.^[2]

Incumbents defeated

No incumbents lost renomination or reelection.

Summary by district

Certified results by the Kentucky Secretary of State are available online for the primary election and general election.

† – Incumbent not seeking re-election

District	Incumbent		Elected
1	Stan Humphries	Rep	Stan Humphries	Rep
3	Whitney H. Westerfield	Rep	Whitney H. Westerfield	Rep
5	Carroll Gibson†	Rep	Stephen L. Meredith	Rep
7	Julian M. Carroll	Dem	Julian M. Carroll	Dem
9	David P. Givens	Rep	David P. Givens	Rep
11	John Schickel	Rep	John Schickel	Rep
13	Reggie Thomas	Dem	Reggie Thomas	Dem
15	Chris Girdler†	Rep	Rick Girdler	Rep
17	Damon Thayer	Rep	Damon Thayer	Rep
19	Morgan McGarvey	Dem	Morgan McGarvey	Dem
21	Albert Robinson	Rep	Albert Robinson	Rep
23	Chris McDaniel	Rep	Chris McDaniel	Rep
25	Robert Stivers	Rep	Robert Stivers	Rep
27	Stephen West	Rep	Stephen West	Rep
29	Johnny Ray Turner	Dem	Johnny Ray Turner	Dem
31	Ray Jones	Dem	Ray Jones	Dem
33	Gerald A. Neal	Dem	Gerald A. Neal	Dem
35	Denise Harper Angel	Dem	Denise Harper Angel	Dem
37	Perry B. Clark	Dem	Perry B. Clark	Dem

Closest races

There were no seats where the margin of victory was under 10%.

Special elections

District 27 special

Steve West was elected in March 2015 following the resignation of Walter Blevins.

2015 Kentucky Senate 27th district special election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve West	5,337	54.4
	Democratic	Kelly Caudill	4,471	45.6
Total votes			9,808	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 1

Incumbent senator Stan Humphries won reelection unopposed.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Stan Humphries, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 1st district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stan Humphries (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			36,264	100.0
	Republican hold

District 3

Incumbent senator Whitney H. Westerfield won reelection unopposed.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Whitney H. Westerfield, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 3rd district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Whitney H. Westerfield (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			28,655	100.0
	Republican hold

District 5

Incumbent senator Carroll Gibson did not seek reelection. He was succeeded by Republican Stephen L. Meredith.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Leslie J. Stith

Eliminated in primary

Ricky Alvey

Results

Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leslie J. Stith	5,470	52.3
	Democratic	Ricky Alvey	4,990	47.7
Total votes			10,460	100.0

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Stephen L. Meredith

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 5th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stephen L. Meredith	31,096	63.3
	Democratic	Leslie J. Stith	18,006	36.7
Total votes			49,102	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

Incumbent senator Julian M. Carroll won reelection unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Julian M. Carroll, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 7th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian M. Carroll (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			39,851	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 9

Incumbent senator David P. Givens won reelection unopposed.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

David P. Givens, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 9th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Givens (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			37,791	100.0
	Republican hold

District 11

Incumbent senator John Schickel won reelection, defeating primary election challenger Josh L. Turner.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

John Schickel, incumbent senator

Eliminated in primary

Josh L. Turner

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel (incumbent)	4,804	80.9
	Republican	Josh L. Turner	1,137	19.1
Total votes			5,941	100.0

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 11th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			47,552	100.0
	Republican hold

District 13

Incumbent senator Reggie Thomas won reelection unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Reggie Thomas, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 13th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Reggie Thomas (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			33,373	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15

Incumbent senator Chris Girdler did not seek reelection. He was succeeded by Republican Rick Girdler.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Rick Girdler

Eliminated in primary

Michael Keck
Don Moss
Joshua Nichols

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Girdler	3,395	31.7
	Republican	Don Moss	2,638	24.7
	Republican	Michael Keck	2,449	22.9
	Republican	Joshua Nichols	2,214	20.7
Total votes			10,696	100.0

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 15th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Girdler	Unopposed
Total votes			39,614	100.0
	Republican hold

District 17

Incumbent senator Damon Thayer won reelection, defeating Democratic candidate Charlie Hoffman.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Charlie Hoffman

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Damon Thayer, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 17th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Damon Thayer (incumbent)	36,656	67.9
	Democratic	Charlie Hoffman	17,302	32.1
Total votes			53,958	100.0
	Republican hold

District 19

Incumbent senator Morgan McGarvey won reelection, defeating Republican candidate Larry West.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Morgan McGarvey, incumbent senator

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Larry West

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 19th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Morgan McGarvey (incumbent)	39,026	61.7
	Republican	Larry West	24,214	38.3
Total votes			63,240	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 21

Incumbent senator Albert Robinson won reelection, defeating primary and general election challengers.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Janice Odom

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Albert Robinson, incumbent senator

Eliminated in primary

Michael Bryant

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Albert Robinson (incumbent)	5,005	55.4
	Republican	Michael Bryant	4,034	44.6
Total votes			9,039	100.0

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 21st district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Albert Robinson (incumbent)	33,770	75.1
	Democratic	Janice Odom	11,185	24.9
Total votes			44,955	100.0
	Republican hold

District 23

Incumbent senator Chris McDaniel won reelection unopposed.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Chris McDaniel, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 23rd district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chris McDaniel (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			37,409	100.0
	Republican hold

District 25

Incumbent senator Robert Stivers won reelection unopposed.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Robert Stivers, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 25th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Stivers (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			30,577	100.0
	Republican hold

District 27

Incumbent senator Stephen West won reelection, defeating Democratic candidate Charles L. Linville III.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Charles L. Linville III

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Stephen West, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 27th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stephen West (incumbent)	30,548	67.5
	Democratic	Charles L. Linville III	14,681	32.5
Total votes			45,229	100.0
	Republican hold

District 29

Incumbent senator Johnny Ray Turner won reelection unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Johnny Ray Turner, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 29th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johnny Ray Turner (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			26,890	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 31

Incumbent senator Ray Jones won reelection, defeating primary election challenger Glenn Martin Hammond.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Ray Jones, incumbent senator

Eliminated in primary

Glenn Martin Hammond

Results

Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Jones (incumbent)	9,527	71.1
	Democratic	Glenn Martin Hammond	3,870	28.9
Total votes			13,397	100.0

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 31st district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Jones (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			26,598	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33

Incumbent senator Gerald A. Neal won reelection, defeating primary and general election challengers.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Gerald A. Neal, incumbent senator

Eliminated in primary

Charles Booker
Joan A. "Toni" Stringer

Results

Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald A. Neal (incumbent)	9,013	48.4
	Democratic	Joan A. "Toni" Stringer	5,945	31.9
	Democratic	Charles Booker	3,681	19.7
Total votes			18,639	100.0

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Shenita Rickman

Eliminated in primary

John Yuen

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Shenita Rickman	537	51.8
	Republican	John Yuen	499	48.2
Total votes			1,036	100.0

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 33rd district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald A. Neal (incumbent)	34,588	84.3
	Republican	Shenita Rickman	6,432	15.7
Total votes			41,020	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 35

Incumbent senator Denise Harper Angel won reelection unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Denise Harper Angel, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 35th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Denise Harper Angel (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			35,860	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37

Incumbent senator Perry B. Clark won reelection unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Perry B. Clark, incumbent senator

General election

Results

2016 Kentucky Senate 37th district election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Perry B. Clark (incumbent)	Unopposed
Total votes			31,555	100.0
	Democratic hold

Notes

^ Republican Steve West was elected in March 2015 to fill the vacant seat of Democrat Walter Blevins.

References

^ "Kentucky Senate - Republicans keep lopsided control of Kentucky Senate". The Lexington Herald-Leader. November 9, 2016. p. 5A. The seat was open because Republican Sen. Carroll Gibson, who had held it for more than a decade, did not seek re-election.
^ "Primary - 15th district". The Lexington Herald-Leader. May 15, 2016. p. 3C. Four men are seeking the Republican nomination to replace Sen. Chris Girdler in the 15th District, ... Girdler did not seek re-election.

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