Kentucky

Kentucky’s primary, originally scheduled for May 19, was delayed until June 23 because of the coronavirus outbreak. In the 2016 general election, Donald Trump won the state with 62.52% of the vote, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 32.68%. The winning presidential candidate carried Kentucky in every election from 1964 to 2004. The streak was broken in 2008, when John McCain won the state but lost the White House. Its state Legislature is controlled by Republicans, while its governor’s office is in Democratic hands. Republicans hold both of the state’s US Senate seats and a majority of its US House seats. The Democratic base of support in Kentucky is focused on its largest city, Louisville. In senatorial and gubernatorial races especially, Democrats also run well in the cities of Lexington and Frankfort. The western coal mining region, which is based around the cities of Owensboro and Paducah, also has deep Democratic roots. In recent years, however, the region has increasingly been trending Republican. The GOP counts on strong support from the suburban counties around Louisville and Cincinnati. The south-central part of the state, based around Bowling Green, has generally been a GOP stronghold since the Civil War era.