2012 Kentucky Senate election

2012 Kentucky Senate election

←  2010 November 6, 2012 2014  →
19 out of 38 seats in the Kentucky Senate 20 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader None R. J. Palmer Party Republican Democratic Leader since — January 4, 2011 Leader's seat — 28th – Winchester Last election 22 [a] 15 Seats won 23 [a] 14 Seat change 1 1 Seats up 9 10 Races won 10 9
Results:      Republican hold     Republican gain      Democratic hold
Senate President before election David L. Williams Republican Elected Senate President Robert Stivers Republican

The 2012 Kentucky Senate election was held on November 6, 2012. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were held on May 22. 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, gaining one seat. ^[1]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing [2]	Safe R	October 24, 2012

Retirements

1. 1st District: Kenneth W. Winters (R) retired.
2. 15th District: Vernie McGaha (R) retired.
3. 23rd District: Jack Westwood (R) retired.

Incumbents defeated

1. 3rd District: Joey Pendleton (D) lost re-election to Whitney Westerfield.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 3, 0.82% (gain)
2. District 21, 7.64%

Special elections

District 19 special

§ Special election

District 16 special

Sara Beth Gregory was elected in December 2012 following the resignation of David L. Williams.

2012 Kentucky Senate 16th district special election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sara Beth Gregory	6,244	81.3
	Democratic	Bill Conn	1,440	18.7
Total votes			7,684	100.0
	Republican hold

District 1

2012 Kentucky Senate 1st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stanley H. Humphries	28,338	59.31
	Democratic	Carroll Hubbard	19,445	40.69
Total votes			47,783	100.0
	Republican hold

District 3

2012 Kentucky Senate 3rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Whitney Westerfield	18,457	50.41
	Democratic	Joey Pendleton (incumbent)	18,160	49.59
Total votes			36,617	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 5

2012 Kentucky Senate 5th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carroll Gibson (incumbent)	32,028	100.0
Total votes			32,028	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

2012 Kentucky Senate 7th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian Carroll (incumbent)	33,404	59.00
	Republican	Frank Haynes	23,213	41.00
Total votes			56,617	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 9

2012 Kentucky Senate 9th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Givens (incumbent)	33,874	100.0
Total votes			33,874	100.0
	Republican hold

District 11

2012 Kentucky Senate 11th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel (incumbent)	46,962	100.0
Total votes			46,962	100.0
	Republican hold

District 13

2012 Kentucky Senate 13th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Stein (incumbent)	30,365	100.0
Total votes			30,365	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15

2012 Kentucky Senate 15th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chris Girdler	36,946	100.0
Total votes			36,946	100.0
	Republican hold

District 17

2012 Kentucky Senate 17th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Damon Thayer (incumbent)	35,343	66.35
	Democratic	David Holcomb	17,926	33.65
Total votes			53,269	100.0
	Republican hold

District 19

General election

Results

2012 Kentucky Senate 19th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Morgan McGarvey (incumbent)	39,327	100.0
Total votes			39,327	100.0
	Democratic hold

Special election

Results

2012 Kentucky Senate 19th district special election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Morgan McGarvey	38,301	100.0
Total votes			38,301	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 21

2012 Kentucky Senate 21st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Albert Robinson	20,490	53.82
	Democratic	Amie Hacker	17,583	46.18
Total votes			38,073	100.0
	Republican hold

District 23

2012 Kentucky Senate 23rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Christian McDaniel	23,993	59.98
	Democratic	James Noll	16,010	40.02
Total votes			40,003	100.0
	Republican hold

District 25

2012 Kentucky Senate 25th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Stivers (incumbent)	21,198	63.95
	Democratic	Ralph Hoskins	11,949	36.05
Total votes			33,147	100.0
	Republican hold

District 27

2012 Kentucky Senate 27th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter Blevins (incumbent)	24,977	63.51
	Republican	Tony Downey	14,350	36.49
Total votes			39,327	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 29

2012 Kentucky Senate 29th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johnny Ray Turner (incumbent)	24,644	100.0
Total votes			24,644	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 31

2012 Kentucky Senate 31st district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Jones II (incumbent)	25,303	100.0
Total votes			25,303	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33

2012 Kentucky Senate 33rd district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald Neal (incumbent)	33,986	93.68
	Independent	Norris Shelton	2,291	6.32
Total votes			36,277	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 35

2012 Kentucky Senate 35th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Denise Harper Angel (incumbent)	32,126	100.0
Total votes			32,126	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37

2012 Kentucky Senate 37th district election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Perry B. Clark (incumbent)	24,806	58.58
	Republican	Chris Thieneman	17,536	41.42
Total votes			42,342	100.0
	Democratic hold

Notes

1. Independent senator Bob Leeper caucused with the Republicans.

References

1. "Kentucky State Senate elections, 2012". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
2. Daigneau, Elizabeth; Jacobson, Louis (October 23, 2012). "The Latest Chamber-by-Chamber Analysis of the 2012 State Legislative Elections". Governing. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2025-11-24.