MIDWAY — Saying she has flipped a district before and vowing to do it again, Democrat Cherlynn Stevenson of Lexington launched her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives before a gathering of supporters at a distillery in Woodford County Tuesday.
“I know what it takes to win a competitive seat with voters from all sides of the aisle by focusing on everyday issues, not political division, by knocking on every door I can and meeting voters where they are,” said Stevenson, who won an open seat in the Kentucky legislature in 2018 in a traditionally Republican district in southern Lexington.
She hopes to win next year in the 6th Congressional District held since 2013 by Republican Andy Barr, who is running to succeed Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate.
“I’m running for Congress for one simple reason,” Stevenson said over the roar of Bluegrass Distillers boilers. “I love Kentucky, and I want to do all I can to make it even better. I love my country, and I want to take us off of the rollercoaster ride that has driven a carton of eggs up and nest eggs down.”
Stevenson said, “Tariffs are destroying our economy. Cuts to Medicaid threaten our health care. Dismantling public education is destroying our kids’ future. It’s about time we’ve actually had someone in this office who works for us, not for Elon Musk, his billionaire buddies and the corporate elite.”
Stevenson is the first Democrat to announce for the seat.
One Republican has announced — Kentucky Rep. Ryan Dotson, of Winchester. Dotson’s campaign kickoff is set for June 3 in his hometown. Of potential Republicans who may enter the race, he’s seen as one of the farthest to the political right and is making culture war issues a part of his campaign messaging, stressing his commitment to banning transgender women and girls from using women’s restrooms.
Though Barr has held the U.S. House seat for over a decade, Democrats see the district as one they could flip heading into the midterm elections. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has said it considers the district in play.
Stevenson, who was chosen as caucus chair by Kentucky House Democrats in 2022, won a close reelection bid against a Republican challenger in 2022 despite the GOP-controlled General Assembly having drastically redrawn her district. She narrowly lost her 2024 bid for the statehouse seat to Republican Rep. Vanessa Grossl, of Georgetown.
Stevenson, who grew up in Knott County in Southeastern Kentucky, said her mother was a teacher and her father worked in coal. “Believe me when I say that growing up they instilled in me the importance of hard work and doing what’s right, right now.” A Morehead State University graduate, she has lived in Lexington for about 25 years. In her announcement speech, she voiced support for labor unions and reproductive rights.
Kentucky is positioned to receive a lot of national attention during the midterm elections. Gov. Andy Beshear, who has not ruled out a 2028 bid for president, will serve as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2026. That puts Beshear in a place to rally support and money behind his party’s candidates across the nation in key elections.
Stevenson told reporters she thought it would take “a floor of $5 million” to win the U.S. House seat, depending on whether she has primary challengers.
Some see the 6th Congressional District as a purple district. It includes Lexington, the state’s second largest city and one of Kentucky’s last remaining Democratic strongholds. However, Republicans regularly fare better in elections in the more rural and suburban parts of the district, such as Georgetown and Richmond.
Democrat Amy McGrath came within 3 percentage points of unseating Barr in 2018, but since then the Republican has easily won reelection with nearly two-thirds of the vote over little known and underfunded Democratic challengers.
In an interview, Stevenson said she recently spoke with McGrath, who told Stevenson that her six years of experience in the legislature is an advantage that the former Marine fighter pilot lacked. “She ran a good race in a lot of ways but we’re not the same person,” Stevenson said of McGrath. “I think that we’re going to come across to folks in a little bit of a different way.”
“Obviously, it’s a tough district, but it being an open seat in the environment that we are seeing with tariffs threatening our economy, with families worrying that their health care is going to be stripped away, with veterans seeing their health care in jeopardy, I think that we’re just going to be in a completely different environment than she ran in. I think it’s going to be different in a lot of ways.”
The Republican Party of Kentucky views the 6th Congressional District as a safe seat for the party. Spokesman Andy Westberry said in a statement that Stevenson’s “entry into this race isn’t a serious campaign; it’s a one-way ticket to political career-ending humiliation.”
“Let’s be clear: the 6th District is Trump Country — rock-solid Republican ground where liberal pipe dreams go to die,” Westberry said. “If the DCCC thinks Cherlynn Stevenson is their ticket to a majority, they’re more delusional than we thought. This district will send another conservative fighter to Washington, and Democrats will be left wondering why they even bothered.”
Asked about the GOP description of the Central Kentucky district as “Trump country,” Stevenson said, “I would call it Beshear country.”
Both the Republican president and Democratic governor have carried the district.
Stevenson said Beshear’s political formula of “being authentic and talking to people about their issues and not focusing on political division” is one she plans to employ.
Candidates may formally file their election paperwork with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office in November, which is a year before the 2026 general election. The deadline for filing is January.
This story was updated with information about Stevenson’s announcement speech and event.
Jamie Lucke contributed to this story.
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Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
