# 2023 Kentucky elections

Elections in Kentucky :
Federal government
Presidential elections
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2024 :
State government
State elections
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Gubernatorial elections
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Secretary of State elections
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Attorney General elections
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State Treasurer elections
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State Auditor elections
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Agriculture Commissioner elections
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Senate elections
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House of Representatives elections
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2024 :
Ballot measures
2004Amendment 1
2022Amendment 2
2024Amendment 2 :
Lexington
Mayoral elections
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Louisville
Mayoral elections
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Government :
vte :
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Kentucky on November 7, 2023.
Notably, few Democratic candidates ran for statewide offices. The Lexington Herald-Leader attributed this to Kentucky's strong Republican lean and the fact that Republicans gained seats in the Kentucky General Assembly in 2022. However, Democrats have pointed to recent victories by liberal judges in nonpartisan elections and the defeat of a 2022 ballot measure that would have removed abortion rights from the Kentucky Constitution as signs that they can still win in the state. In addition to the candidates listed below, former state representative Attica Scott was speculated as a potential statewide candidate, but she did not run for any office in 2023.

## Governor

Incumbent governor Andy Beshear ran for re-election. He faced Republican nominee, incumbent attorney general Daniel Cameron. Due to his high favorability ratings, Beshear was considered the favorite in the election; however, polling tightened in the week leading up to the election. Despite this apparent late momentum for Cameron, Beshear went on to comfortably win re-election by five percentage points, improving on his 2019 performance by 4.6 percentage points.

## Attorney general

Incumbent attorney general Daniel Cameron ran for governor.
Kentucky State Representative for the 43rd District Pamela Stevenson announced a run to succeed Cameron. She was the only high-profile state-level Democrat (barring Andy Beshear and Jacqueline Coleman) to have announced a run for statewide office.
Russell Coleman, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky was the only Republican candidate to have declared a run, and thus won the Republican primary unopposed.
Coleman would go on to win the election by 16 percentage points. He also narrowly improved on Daniel Cameron’s win in 2019 by 0.6 percentage points.

## Secretary of state

Incumbent secretary of state Michael Adams ran for re-election. He faced former state representative Charles "Buddy" Wheatley.
Unlike 2019, the race was not close. Adams won re-election by 21.2 percentage points, improving upon his past performance by 16.7 percentage points.

## Treasurer

Incumbent treasurer Allison Ball was term-limited and could not seek re-election. She ran successfully for state auditor.

### Republican primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Mark Metcalf, Garrard County Attorney

##### Eliminated in primary

* Andrew Cooperrider, businessman
* OJ Oleka, former deputy state treasurer

##### Endorsements

Statewide officials
* Allison Ball, incumbent treasurer
Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Mark Metcalf | 135,400 | 51.2 |
| | Republican | Andrew Cooperrider | 77,347 | 29.3 |
| | Republican | OJ Oleka | 51,582 | 19.5 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 264,329 | 100 |

### Democratic primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Michael Bowman, special assistant to Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman, former bank manager, and nominee for state treasurer in 2019

##### Declined

* Neville Blakemore, construction executive and candidate for state treasurer in 2015
* Matthew Lehman, pharmaceutical executive and nominee for Kentucky's 4th congressional district in 2022

##### Endorsements

Organizations
* Kentucky State AFL-CIO

### General election

2023 Kentucky Treasurer election results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Mark Metcalf | 735,066 | 57.2 |
| | Democratic | Michael Bowman | 549,257 | 42.8 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,284,323 | 100 |

## Auditor of Public Accounts

Incumbent Auditor Mike Harmon was term-limited and could not seek re-election. He ran for governor.

### Republican primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Allison Ball, state treasurer

##### Eliminated in primary

* Derek Petteys
Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Allison Ball | 190,685 | 72.4 |
| | Republican | Derek Petteys | 72,581 | 27.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 263,266 | 100 |

### Democratic primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Kim Reeder, tax attorney

##### Endorsements

Organizations
* Kentucky State AFL-CIO

### General election

2023 Kentucky Auditor election results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Allison Ball | 782,736 | 60.7 |
| | Democratic | Kim Reeder | 505,742 | 39.3 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,288,478 | 100 |

## Agriculture Commissioner

Incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles ran for governor.

### Republican primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Jonathan Shell, former majority leader of the Kentucky House of Representatives

##### Eliminated in primary

* Richard Heath, state representative and candidate for agriculture commissioner in 2015
Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Jonathan Shell | 148,169 | 56.5 |
| | Republican | Richard Heath | 114,291 | 43.5 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 262,460 | 100 |

### Democratic primary
#### Candidates
##### Nominee

* Sierra Enlow, economic development consultant and former Louisville Economic Development Manager

##### Eliminated in primary

* Mikael Malone

##### Declined

* Rocky Adkins, senior advisor to Governor Andy Beshear, former minority leader of the Kentucky House of Representatives, and candidate for governor in 2019

##### Endorsements

Organizations
* Kentucky State AFL-CIO
Democratic primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Sierra Enlow | 103,243 | 58.7 |
| | Democratic | Mikael Malone | 72,560 | 41.3 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 175,803 | 100 |

### General election
#### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Jonathan Shell (R) | Sierra Enlow (D) | Undecided |
| Public Opinion Strategies (R) | July 19–20, 2023 | 500 (LV) | ± 4.4% | 45% | 27% | 27% |
2023 Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner election results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Jonathan Shell | 762,992 | 59.4 |
| | Democratic | Sierra Enlow | 522,335 | 40.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,285,327 | 100 |