LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The race for a suburban Kentucky House seat in northeast Jefferson County will center largely around education and reproductive rights, the candidates believe.
In House District 48, Republican incumbent Ken Fleming is up against challenger Kate Farrow, a Democrat and first-time candidate for political office.
Fleming is a three-term state representative who has name recognition in the district, also as a former Louisville Metro Councilman.
Fleming believes his experience in government, business and relationships built in Frankfort -- along with Republicans' effort to keep the state income tax falling -- will reign supreme in the November election.
"To continue on that tax reform, get them down to zero," he told WHAS11 on Wednesday. "That's money in their pocket in order for them to fight inflation."
Farrow is a retired operations manager at the Louisville Water Company. She describes herself as fiscally conservative and socially progressive, which she says reflects a large portion of her constituents -- what she describes as a 'purple district.'
She says her number one priority is protecting women's reproductive rights.
"I knock on mostly Democrats' [doors], but also I'm trying to connect with as many Independents and Republicans as possible," she told WHAS11 as she knocked on doors in the Woods of St. Thomas subdivision. "The number one issue I'm hearing about is women want their rights back."
Farrow, like many Democrat challengers across Kentucky, hope the endorsement of popular Gov. Andy Beshear can propel them to victory in an increasingly red state. She preaches common-sense, common-ground policy, which has become the party's latest message to try to flip seats currently held by Republicans.
"You'll get Republicans at the door who are like, 'I like Andy. I'll vote for Andy.' And they'll see me the same way," Farrow said.
Voters are seeing Fleming's campaign signs and flyers sent in the mail, touting the long-time politician as having a proven track record of putting K-12 students first.
"We've given the districts more money for them to attract those teachers -- to retain them and so forth," Fleming told WHAS11 on Wednesday.
Fleming also helped lead the charge to create a task force to evaluate JCPS' size and how district leaders are running day-to-day operations -- along with the impact that could be having on students' performance.
Fleming, who's also the executive director of the Kilgore Samaritan Counseling Center, pushed back on the idea that the goal of the task force is to consider the benefits of breaking up the district of nearly 100,000 students.
"Every time I talk to constituents -- when I knock on doors -- they think that the [JCPS] Board [of Education] is not doing their job," he told WHAS11. "The Board is not being held accountable for the students' outcomes."
Meanwhile, Farrow said she's knocked on more than 10,000 doors to meet people where they are and introduce herself as someone who reflects their same core values.
"I probably can't outraise or beat him in the ads and stuff, but I've decided I can beat him here at the doors," she said. "I'm not a 20-year politician. I didn't go to school for political science. I'm a mother of two boys. So, I'm basically your neighbor just trying to represent you well in Frankfort."
WHAS11 followed along with Farrow as she read voters a list of policy issues, asking which matters most to them?
One woman told her, "[It's] reproductive health for women. I don't want to see women go back to the '70s."
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