2008 Kentucky Senate election

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

2008 Kentucky Senate election

←  2006 4 November 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 5 January 1999 6 January 2003 Leader's seat 16th - Burkesville 34th - Richmond Last election 22 [a] 15 Seats after 22 [a] 15 Seat change
Senate President before election David L. Williams Republican Elected Senate President David L. Williams Republican

The 2008 Kentucky Senate election was held on 4 November 2008 to determine which party would control the Kentucky Senate for the following two years in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly. All odd-numbered seats were up for election, which consisted of half of the 38 senate seats and the primary was held on 20 May 2008. 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. The general election saw both parties holding on to the same amount of seats as the previous election, meaning that Republicans retained control of the Kentucky Senate. ^[1]

Predictions

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

Results

1st District

1st District election, 2008

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

3rd District

3rd District election, 2008

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

5th District

5th District election, 2008

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

7th District

7th District election, 2008

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

9th District

9th District election, 2008

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

11th District

11th District election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

13th District

13th District election, 2008

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

15th District

15th District election, 2008

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

17th District

17th District election, 2008

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

19th District

19th District election, 2008

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

21st District

21st District election, 2008

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

23rd District

23rd District election, 2008

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

25th District

25th District election, 2008

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

27th District

27th District election, 2008

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

29th District

29th District election, 2008

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

31st District

31st District election, 2008

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

33rd District

33rd District election, 2012

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

35th District

35th District election, 2008

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

37th District

37th District election, 2008

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. Independent senator Bob Leeper caucused with the Republicans.

References

1. "Kentucky State Senate elections, 2008". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
2. Jacobson, Louis (15 October 2008). "Legislative races tilting Dems' way in '08". Stateline. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2025.