Seth Winslow Young is a Republican candidate for District 63 of the Kentucky House of Representatives, which encompasses northwestern portions of Kenton County and parts of Boone County (click here to see a map of the district).
He is one of two Republican candidates – the other being Cole Cuzick – set to challenge incumbent Kim Banta in the May primary. There are no Democratic candidates in District 63, so whoever wins the May primary will run unopposed in November.
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Young was born in Covington and currently lives in Villa Hills. He played football at Georgetown for a year before transferring to Thomas More, where he played for another two years. He had yet to earn his degree when he spoke with LINK nky. He then joined the Navy and made it through the early rounds of training, but was unable to serve in the job he wanted due to health issues. He had been through some struggles, he admitted, but he didn’t believe it disqualified him from holding office.
“I think my challenges and my struggles growing up, I don’t think that that disqualifies me,” Young said. “I think it reaffirms the sentiment of the American dream and how Americans have to pick themselves up by their bootstraps when things get tough, and that quitting is the only thing that shows disqualification.”
Young said the pandemic was a political awakening for him; he was a senior in high school when the lockdowns took effect.
“You come to see how politics got involved, and those policies caused harm…,” Young said. “It put a lot of hurdles over these kids.”
In terms of the current race, Young said he decided to run because “our current incumbent has become too consumed with the idea of politics having to take place in certain instances, especially with our children. That undermines the sole purpose of how education is ultimately an investment.”
His campaign website also lists several other flagship issues: reducing human trafficking and the proliferation of fentanyl, investing in infrastructure, protecting religious freedoms and lowering taxes.
“Kentucky and politics in general, they need new leaders,” Young said.