LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's been a summer of national attention for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, but for some of his Democratic colleagues in Frankfort, it's been a period of controversy.
And with the number of seats controlled by Kentucky Democrats at record lows, some supporters are voicing a need to shift the strategy.
"It's a numbers game, it's just like watching a football game or watching a basketball game; right now, Democrats are losing in terms of having the amount of power," said Cassia Herron, a Louisville community organizer who's own sister, Keturah Herron, is a state lawmaker. "And that doesn't change if we don't vote."
Outside of the anomaly that is Beshear's success as a Democrat in today's heavily Republican Kentucky, the influence of the state party and its voters continues to dwindle.
"Democrats have to figure out how we leverage that popularity, that success that we have seen in the governor's mansion," Cassia told WHAS11 on Thursday.
Democrats used to have real pull in Kentucky, but after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, they've become majorly outnumbered -- and in many ways powerless from a policy perspective.
"If you had gone back 20-plus years ago and said to folks that eventually Republicans in the state legislature in both houses are going to have the majorities that they have, people would have said, 'Are you kidding?'" Don Fitzpatrick, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, said. "Now, can the same thing happen in Jefferson County? Well, we're certainly working on it, very hard."
In recent weeks, we've seen sitting Democratic lawmakers from Louisville hindered by controversy.
State Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton was charged with DUI, State Rep. Daniel Grossberg is at the center of a sexual harassment investigation, and State Rep. Nima Kulkarni remains in a persisting legal battle over a filing error that had at one point disqualified her from running for reelection -- but the state party ultimately still nominated her.
The question is whether these issues potentially put their seats at risk, with Republicans looking at every opportunity to flip seats in Jefferson County.
"The legal issues that some of our elected officials are in could be a sideshow and really get us off the focus of really electing Democrats," Cassia said.
During his Team Kentucky update on Thursday, WHAS11 asked Gov. Beshear if he's confident in the future of the party.
"I think there are a lot of good candidates out there with good ideas," Beshear said.
Republican State Rep. Jason Nemes (R-Middletown) said when it comes to Jefferson County seats up for grabs in November, the key for voters will be the issues.
"The Kentucky Democrat party and the national Democrat party has gone crazy," Nemes told WHAS11. "Their issues are woke. They are very, very far left, and that's not where your average suburban Jefferson County resident is."
Oddly enough, that's where there is at least some agreement across parties -- that the focus for Kentucky Democrats may need some revising.
John Stovall is running for a House seat in southern Jefferson County.
"We need to get back to the people and letting them know that we're going to ensure that they'll have a good job, they'll have health care, they'll have a pension, they'll have childcare for their kids or their grandkids -- and somehow along the way we've lost all that," Stovall told WHAS11.
At a news conference ahead of Labor Day, Kentucky Democratic Party Executive Director Morgan Eaves told WHAS11 "the momentum is speeding up," predicting more Democrats elected up and down the ballot in November.
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