2008 Kentucky Senate election

Not to be confused with 2008 United States Senate election in Kentucky.

2008 Kentucky Senate election

←  2006 November 4, 2008 2010  →
19 out of 38 seats in the Kentucky Senate 20 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader David L. Williams Ed Worley Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 5, 1999 January 6, 2003 Leader's seat 16th – Burkesville 34th – Richmond Last election 21 16 Seats before 22 [a] [b] 15 Seats won 22 [b] 15 Seat change Seats up 9 10 Races won 9 10
Results:      Republican hold     Democratic hold
Senate President before election David L. Williams Republican Elected Senate President David L. Williams Republican

The 2008 Kentucky Senate election was held on November 4, 2008. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were held on May 20. Half of the senate (all odd-numbered seats) was up for election. Prior to the election 22 seats were held by Republicans and 15 were held by Democrats, while one was held by Independent senator Bob Leeper, who caucused with the Republicans. Republicans maintained their majority in the chamber, without gaining or losing any seats. ^[1]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing [2]	Likely R	October 15, 2008

Retirements

1. 9th District: Richie Sanders (R) retired.
2. 11th District: Dick Roeding (R) retired.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 23, 1.96%
2. District 1, 7.70%

Special elections

District 30 special

2008 Kentucky Senate 30th district special election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brandon Smith	10,409	51.0
	Democratic	Scott Alexander	10,008	49.0
Total votes			20,417	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 1

2008 Kentucky Senate 1st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth W. Winters (incumbent)	26,430	53.85
	Democratic	Carroll Hubbard	22,650	46.15
Total votes			49,080	100.0
	Republican hold

District 3

2008 Kentucky Senate 3rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joey Pendleton (incumbent)	21,410	56.51
	Republican	Tom Jones	16,479	43.49
Total votes			37,889	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 5

2008 Kentucky Senate 5th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carroll Gibson (incumbent)	31,634	100.0
Total votes			31,634	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

2008 Kentucky Senate 7th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian Carroll (incumbent)	44,692	100.0
Total votes			44,692	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 9

2008 Kentucky Senate 9th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Givens	24,775	55.37
	Democratic	Steve Newberry	19,967	44.63
Total votes			44,742	100.0
	Republican hold

District 11

2008 Kentucky Senate 11th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel	45,047	100.0
Total votes			45,047	100.0
	Republican hold

District 13

2008 Kentucky Senate 13th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Stein	26,593	65.81
	Republican	Chuck Ellinger II	13,815	34.19
Total votes			40,408	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15

2008 Kentucky Senate 15th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vernie McGaha (incumbent)	36,212	100.0
Total votes			36,212	100.0
	Republican hold

District 17

2008 Kentucky Senate 17th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Damon Thayer (incumbent)	31,835	61.63
	Democratic	Robert Powell	18,342	35.51
	Constitution	Micah L. Ingram	1,478	2.86
Total votes			51,655	100.0
	Republican hold

District 19

2008 Kentucky Senate 19th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tim Shaughnessy (incumbent)	36,199	59.52
	Republican	Bob Heleringer	24,615	40.48
Total votes			60,814	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 21

2008 Kentucky Senate 21st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Jensen (incumbent)	29,471	100.0
Total votes			29,471	100.0
	Republican hold

District 23

2008 Kentucky Senate 23rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jack Westwood (incumbent)	21,057	50.98
	Democratic	Kathy Groob	20,250	49.02
Total votes			41,307	100.0
	Republican hold

District 25

2008 Kentucky Senate 25th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Stivers (incumbent)	21,459	65.21
	Democratic	Michael Adkins	11,450	34.79
Total votes			32,909	100.0
	Republican hold

District 27

2008 Kentucky Senate 27th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter Blevins (incumbent)	27,202	64.89
	Republican	Richard White	14,717	35.11
Total votes			41,919	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 29

2008 Kentucky Senate 29th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johnny Ray Turner (incumbent)	26,389	100.0
Total votes			26,389	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 31

2008 Kentucky Senate 31st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Jones II (incumbent)	24,814	100.0
Total votes			24,814	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33

2008 Kentucky Senate 33rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald Neal (incumbent)	36,700	100.0
Total votes			36,700	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 35

2008 Kentucky Senate 35th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Denise Harper Angel (incumbent)	32,022	83.68
	Republican	John Albers	6,246	16.32
Total votes			38,268	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37

2008 Kentucky Senate 37th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Perry B. Clark (incumbent)	25,739	56.58
	Republican	Doug Hawkins	19,749	43.42
Total votes			45,488	100.0
	Democratic hold

Notes

1. Republican Brandon Smith was elected in February 2008 to fill the vacant seat of Democrat Daniel Mongiardo.
2. Independent senator Bob Leeper caucused with the Republicans.

References

1. "Kentucky State Senate elections, 2008". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
2. Jacobson, Louis (October 15, 2008). "Legislative races tilting Dems' way in '08". Stateline. Archived from the original on 2008-11-06. Retrieved 2025-11-24.