Election Day has come and gone, and now we have a clear picture of who Kentucky voters picked to represent them.
Among the biggest takeaways of the night: Democrats flipped one of Kentucky’s congressional districts, along with defeating several well-known and powerful Republican incumbents in the state legislature.
Here’s a rundown of the highlights of Kentucky’s 2026 midterm election results, from federal races to this year’s constitutional amendment.
Have a question about a race? Want to share reactions? Contact political correspondent Olivia Krauth at oliviakrauth@couriernewsroom.com or drop a note in this anonymous form.
Dembo flips KY-06
Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District just turned blue.
Democrat Zach Dembo defeated Republican Ralph Alvarado in the KY-06 race, snagging 53% of the vote versus Alvarado’s 43%. Two third-party candidates combined for the remaining 4%.
“This campaign has never been about me, it’s been about Central Kentucky – and every person who has had to decide between filling their gas tank or filling their prescriptions while politicians in Washington keep cashing in for themselves,” Dembo said in a statement shortly after the race got called for him Tuesday night.
“We sent a message that will be heard far beyond Kentucky: Washington is broken, and we need outsiders to fix it.”
Politicos had been watching Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District for early signs of a larger “blue wave” to come—a wave that ended up being closer to a tsunami, with Democrats grabbing control of the House and Senate.
On paper, the district is split between Democrats and Republicans, but it has been seen as a safe Republican zone since Andy Barr—who won his US Senate race—flipped the seat in 2012.
But that had been shifting over the last year, with most race raters labeling KY-06 as a toss-up ahead of Election Day.
Dembo, a former federal prosecutor making his first political run, centered his campaign on tackling corruption, addressing affordability, and standing up to Trump on issues like tariffs, the Iran War, and Medicaid cuts.
Barr to replace Mitch McConnell
Republican Andy Barr will be Kentucky’s next US Senator, filling the shoes of outgoing, longtime Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
He received 55% of the vote, with Democratic challenger Charles Booker getting 42.9%. Christopher Campbell, the Kentucky Party’s nominee, claimed the remaining 2.1% of voters.
“Having worked alongside Andy in Congress, I know firsthand his dedication to Kentucky and his ability to deliver for our Commonwealth,” McConnell said on social media Tuesday night. “The confidence Kentuckians have placed in their next Senator is well deserved.”
Barr was heavily favored against Booker in the statewide race, although some initial polling suggested Booker might be closer to Barr than what standard political wisdom would anticipate. The 12.1-point gap is the closest Booker has gotten to winning in his three campaigns for US Senate.
Throughout the campaign, Barr touted his support of—and eventual endorsement from—Trump, even when the president’s approval ratings declined and other candidates, like Alvarado, distanced themselves from him.
Blue wave extends to Frankfort as Dems knock off key GOP incumbents
Republicans will still have a commanding supermajority in Frankfort come the 2027 legislative session, but they’ll be without a few of their key players thanks to Democratic wins Tuesday.
Between the state House and Senate, Democrats are poised to flip nine seats while only losing one. Among the Republican incumbents defeated are House Majority Whip Rep. Jason Nemes and Sen. Julie Raque Adams, who spent years in Senate GOP leadership.
Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, a right-wing firebrand known for parroting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric, lost a typically safe Republican seat to Democrat Christian Furman. Rep. Ken Fleming, who oversaw legislation tightening Kentucky’s Medicaid program beyond federal requirements, also lost.
New Frankfort Democrats “will rein in the GOP’s cruel, hyperpartisan supermajorities that have pushed Kentuckians to the side and taken corporate orders to kill popular, bipartisan bills on affordable housing, healthcare and data centers,” Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Eldridge said.
The flips largely came from suburban areas, including in Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky. The only seat Democrats gave up was the last remaining Eastern Kentucky seat—once a Democratic stronghold—when outgoing Rep. Ashley Tackett-Laferty’s open seat went to Republican Tanner Hesterberg.
Some Democrat incumbents won by sizable margins after surviving narrow races in the past. Northern Kentucky Democrat Rep. Matthew Lehman won his 2024 race by 30 votes. This year, he beat the same opponent by nearly 20 percentage points. Rep. Rachel Roarx, who represents part of southwest Louisville, also faced off against her 2024 opponent—her margin moved from a few hundred votes to more than 2,000.
With the wins, Republicans will have a 30-8 majority in Kentucky’s state Senate and a 74-26 majority in the state House.
I beg your pardon?
Kentucky is the first state to restrict when its governors can issue pardons and commute sentences after Amendment 1 passed with around 71% of the vote.
Amendment 1 sought to limit governors from pardoning people from 60 days before a gubernatorial election until when the governor is sworn in—so, generally from September until mid-December of years the governor is on the ballot. Gubernatorial pardon powers will remain the same the rest of a governor’s term.
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin sparked the concept after losing reelection in 2019 and going on a controversial pardon spree in his final weeks in office, including pardons for child rapists and murderers.
“No vote can undo what happened” to the victims and their families impacted by Bevin’s pardons, the amendment’s sponsor, Sen. Chris McDaniel, said Tuesday night. “Tonight, though, Kentuckians took that painful lesson and gave it a lasting place in our Constitution: No governor, of either party, should be able to reserve these decisions until the election is beyond the voters’ reach.”
Despite being in the works for years, the pardon amendment flew under the radar for much of Kentucky’s campaign cycle, with no major campaigns to sway voters on the topic like a few previous high-profile amendments had.
Few surprises in other federal races
While most eyes were on Kentucky’s high-profile 6th Congressional District race, Kentucky’s five other congressional races played out largely as expected.
Republican incumbents Reps. James Comer, Brett Guthrie, and Hal Rogers easily fended off their Democratic challengers in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Congressional Districts, respectively.
And Kentucky’s lone Democrat in the federal delegation, Rep. Morgan McGarvey, won reelection in Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District.
Republican Ed Gallrein, who ousted incumbent Thomas Massie in the primary election, won in northern Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District. Gallrein held off Democrat Melissa Strange by double digits, according to the AP.
How many Kentucky voters showed up?
Kentucky’s 2026 voter turnout (almost) rivaled a presidential year, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
About 42.6% of registered Kentucky voters turned out to the polls this fall—short of the 58 to 60% that showed up for 2024’s and 2020’s presidential elections.
Note: A previous version of this story misreported previous elections’ voter turnout data. Those figures have since been updated.
This story was last updated at 9:44 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2026.
