- Since 2000, the GOP has steadily consolidated power across Kenton, Campbell, and Boone counties.
- Republicans now hold every county executive seat in Northern Kentucky.
- With few Democratic challengers, Republican primaries often serve as the deciding election in major local races.
In Northern Kentucky elections, Republican primaries are becoming the main event.
In what was once a more evenly divided area between Republicans and Democrats, since 2000, the GOP has steadily gained more political power across Kenton, Campbell and Boone County.
Currently, Rep. Matt Lehman (D-Newport) is the only Democrat holding a state legislative seat for a Northern Kentucky district. Republicans occupy the other nine House seats, in addition to all five Senate seats.
Increasingly, Republican primaries serve as the de facto deciding races in key local elections—either because the general election race is numerically noncompetitive or because no candidate is run—especially for powerful legislative and executive roles like judge/executive and county commissioner.
The most powerful executive position in each county — the judge/executive — has not had a Democrat elected to it in the 21st century. All nine county commissioners in Kenton, Campbell and Boone County are Republicans.
This phenomenon also extends into Northern Kentucky’s legislative races. During the 2024 election cycle, three state legislative races did not feature Democratic challengers, up from two in 2022. If this trend continues into the next general election, several Northern Kentucky legislative races will not feature Democratic candidates on the ballot.
On a county-wide scale, the trend is even more apparent. The judge/executive races in Kenton and Boone County for the 2024 cycle featured uncontested general elections. In Kenton County, Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann has not faced a Democrat in the general election for three cycles since his first election in 2015.
The most competitive race Knochelmann participated in was the 2015 GOP primary, when he defeated incumbent Steve Arlinghaus in a race decided by just over 1,000 votes.
In Campbell County, Judge/Executive Steve Pendery was first elected in 1998. The last time Pendery faced a Democrat in the general election was in 2014, when he defeated current Newport city commissioner Ken Rechtin.
Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore has not faced a Democratic challenger in the general election during the past two election cycles, 2018 and 2022. However, he did face a challenger in the Republican primary both times.
Currently, this appears to be the case for the 2026 Boone County judge/executive GOP primary, which is shaping up to be a hotly contested race between Moore, the seasoned incumbent, and upstart county commissioner Chet Hand.
Hand hasn’t faced a Democrat in his political career thus far. Hand, who was first elected as county commissioner in 2022, defeated incumbent Charles Kenner in the GOP primary before running unopposed in the general election.
In the wake of this regional trend, Campbell County Vice Chair Brandon Long told LINK nky that his party is focusing on fielding candidates for nonpartisan local races, such as school board and city council elections.
“We’ve been focusing strategically on local races, because that is who we are rooted and we’re grounded here in Campbell County, and we’ll continue to do that,” Long said. “That doesn’t mean that we dismiss the other races because we’ve got candidates, and we’ve got interest for state and county races as well, but one of the key things that we care about is quality over quantity.”
Long said the best way, at the moment, for Democrats to make inroads locally is for candidates to be community-focused, rather than taking cues from the national party. From his perspective, Campbell County Democrats are adopting a more deliberate, long-term approach to boosting competitiveness.
“We want good quality candidates rooted in their community, already serving, and we want to encourage and support those,” Long said. “it’s a totally different strategy, so it may seem slower, it may seem that we’re not doing anything, but actually it’s a much more long-term view of rebuilding democracy and protecting democracy in Campbell County.”
Boone County Commissioner Jesse Brewer, who has also not faced a Democratic challenger in a general election since being elected into office in 2018, told LINK nky he believes there are many reasons why primaries are becoming elevated in contemporary elections, namely financing, value alignment and statewide primary structure.
“It wasn’t like that in the 80s and 70s, 80s and 90s,” he said. “Now I think as party values shift on a national stage, that filters down to the local level, and people identify as a Republican or Democrat and register and vote accordingly.”
From Brewer’s perspective, another factor elevating the importance of Republican primaries is Kentucky’s closed primary system for partisan offices. A closed primary means that only voters who are registered with that party can vote in that party’s primary, instead of allowing open participation from Democrats, Independents or unregistered voters.
In effect, this means only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary, and when the Democratic side doesn’t mount a viable challenge, the GOP primary essentially becomes the election. Moreover, in races where the GOP fields multiple primary candidates, the system often leads candidates to rhetorically divide along more ideological grounds to differentiate themselves.
“If you’re a registered Republican, you vote for your registered Republican candidate. If you’re a registered Democrat, you vote for your Democrat,” Brewer said. “Independent voters in Kentucky don’t even get to participate in a primary.”