Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) announced in an email Wednesday morning that she will not be running for re-election for the 67th House District.
The Kentucky House Minority Whip’s announcement has generated some talk in the region about her next steps. Some have questioned whether Roberts could be offered a gubernatorial appointment by Gov. Andy Beshear, who was elected to his second term in November. The governor says that talk is news to him.
Beshear said he hasn’t had any discussions with Roberts about bringing her into his administration during a one-on-one interview with LINK nky on Wednesday.
“There’s been no discussion about any office,” Beshear said. He called Roberts a “wonderful legislator and a good friend” and said her decision not to seek reelection is a “really tough loss.”
When asked today by LINK about her decision not to run for a third term, Roberts said she is focused on her current term and, specifically, the 2024 legislative session starting Jan. 2.
“I plan to work just as hard as I always have through the end of my term,” Roberts said. But in a prepared statement from the House Democratic Caucus Wednesday, she seemed to leave the door open for future public service — in whatever form that may take.
According to the statement: “I look forward to serving the remainder of my term through 2024, and will continue to live a life of public service to our community and the great Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
Only NKY Democrat in legislature, only NKY lawmaker in House leadership
Roberts said in the statement from her caucus that her decision not to run for reelection was made “After months of deliberation.”
“My decision not to seek re-election again is the right one for me and my family,” Roberts said in the statement.
Roberts — first elected to the 67th House District in 2020 – is Northern Kentucky’s only state lawmaker who is a member of the Democratic Party. She is also NKY’s only lawmaker serving in leadership in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
The Newport small business owner has served as Minority Whip since late 2022 when she was elected to the post by her Democratic colleagues.
Her current term as representative for the 67th House District ends Jan. 1, 2025.
Not stopping yet
Looking toward the 2024 legislative session, Roberts told LINK in October that mental health legislation will be a priority for her. Roberts said she envisions three goals for that legislation: erase the stigma of mental health care, build patient-provider relationships, and improve general access to mental health care.
Roberts said Kentucky needs insurers to cover annual mental health checkups at 100 percent just as they do for annual physicals. She said that she would like to see that addressed during the 2024 annual session.
Making mental health care preventative is important to Kentucky, she told LINK.
“The idea here would be that number one, we would normalize mental health care. Number two, to make sure that people have a trusted provider so when they perhaps get to a moment of need in their lifetime they’re not relying on a stranger. They know who to call for assistance. And number three, and perhaps most importantly, it’s a way to entice providers to come to the state and have a built-in client base to begin their practice,” Roberts said. “We have a real shortage of mental health care providers in the state. So my hope is that this would be a way to help not only entice people to come but, for the people we train, to get them to stay in Kentucky.”
Legislation requiring health insurers to create a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals is also on her list of priorities in 2024. A similar bill made it out of the House Banking and Insurance Committee in 2023 but stalled after it was reassigned to the House budget committee in late March.
Roberts said she expects to see “bipartisan interest for a positive outcome” on maternal health issues again this year.
‘It’s a duty you undertake with great joy’
During her talk with LINK in October, Roberts said her philosophy on public service is that it should be done joyfully. “I was taught that when you have the capacity to do more for your community, it’s not only your duty but it’s a duty you undertake with great joy,” to quote the lawmaker.
Her statement released by the House Democratic Caucus Wednesday said she has “done all I can to create positive and lasting change for Northern Kentucky and the entire commonwealth.” Those efforts — which have included securing funding for a new Fourth Street bridge and $20 million for state parks — have extended to “both sides of the aisle,” she said.
Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) represents northwestern Campbell County in Kentucky’s 67th House District.