LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A red wave has swept through southern Jefferson County, with Republicans picking up three seats in the Louisville Metro Council long held by experienced Democrats.
The Nov. 5 general election brought the Louisville Democrats' majority to its slimmest margin since the city and county merged in 2003.
Come January, Republicans will have 12 of the 26 seats, with Democrats controlling the other 14 -- largely made up of the city's urban core and neighborhoods inside or around the Watterson Expressway.
Republicans like Ginny Mulvey-Woolridge in Louisville's south end have run the table in this election. She will take over in District 24, representing parts of Okolona, Highview and Fern Creek.
"People felt like they weren't heard, that if they weren't downtown or on the other side of the Watterson Expressway, they weren't getting taken care of," she told WHAS11 on Wednesday.
The GOP's dream scenario is now a reality, also holding on to four more seats challenged by Democrats.
Republican challengers unseated two well-known, veteran Democrats – Rick Blackwell and Cindi Fowler. Long-time councilwoman Madonna Flood chose not to run for re-election.
In this map of the Metro, you can see where voters wanted something different – the suburban areas of southern Jefferson County.
"We can actually write policies, and we can help change policies now that we do have the 12 seats in the Council," Mulvey-Woolridge said.
Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Don Fitzpatrick said his team decided to "focus where we were confident we would have a good shot at winning."
"And we were not going to go after some areas where we've just traditionally had trouble," he said. "12, 14, 24 -- well hell, we got them all."
Fitzpatrick believes early turnout amongst Republicans made a difference.
"We do think that it's important for us to continue to expand the Republican and conservative impact here in Jefferson County," he said.
Butler Traditional High School teacher Jonathan Joseph of PRP defeated Blackwell by fewer than 100 votes.
He says he knocked on about 10,000 doors.
"When we go up to the doors, it had so much less to do [with] are you a Democrat, are you an Independent, are you a Republican -- the reality is they're all south-enders," Joseph told WHAS11 in an interview. "I think the south-end community just often times feels like they're the forgotten area of Metro Government. And that the south end community wants to have opportunity to be able to go to different stores, to be able to go to different restaurants where they don't have to go across the city to be able to get that."
WHAS11 asked Logan Gatti, chairperson of the Louisville Democratic Party, what their reason could be for lost ground.
"It seems like dollars and cents were the main driver this election cycle," Gatti said. "That's something that we're going to have to contend with going forward. Some of these issues that have been sort of on the periphery are not as important anymore -- as far as winning an election."
Gatti continued, "We're going to get back to the drawing board, we're going to figure out what happened, we're going to come up with a strategy and try and fix this moving into 2026."
And whether the Jefferson County GOP is eyeing Democrat Mayor Craig Greenberg's office in the next few years, the answer is yes.
"Absolutely, absolutely," Fitzpatrick said. "We are committed to ensuring that there are a couple of good, strong conservative alternatives to Mayor Greenberg in 2026."
A familiar face in the state legislature, Republican Kevin Bratcher, won in the race for outgoing Metro Councilmember Robin Engel's (R) seat. That's District 22 -- one of the southern Jefferson County districts that stayed red in this election.
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