Kentucky Government, Politics, and Public Policy

9. Political Parties and Elections in Kentucky

163 9 Political Parties and Elections in Kentucky Joel Turner and Scott Lasley Kentucky holds a unique place in the political landscape with regard to political parties and electoral outcomes. The overall pattern has been one of Democratic Party dominance, which makes the state similar to many of its neighbors to the south. However , unlike most southern states, the Commonwealth has also always had pockets of Republican Party strength. Parties and elections in Kentucky are also characterized by several prominent personalities. Leaders such as Henry Clay, “Happy” Chandler, and Mitch McConnell have brought attention to the Commonwealth from both statewide and national observers. Given these and other unique characteristics, it is important to obtain an understanding of both where Kentucky has been and where it may be going with regard to political parties and elections. The purpose of this chapter is to help provide that understanding. The first half of the chapter will place parties and elections in the Commonwealth in a historical context. This will include an examination of early Democratic-Republican dominance; a chronicle of the rise of the Whigs, led by Henry Clay; a look at the brief emergence of the Know-Nothings and the Constitutional Union Party; and an account of the Democratic factionalism of the mid-1900s, led by Chandler and Earle Clements. The second part of the chapter will examine the state of contemporary parties and elections in Kentucky. This will begin with the end of Democratic factionalism ushered in with the election of Wendell Ford and will include a look at party organization, the party in the electorate, and insights regarding the future of parties in Kentucky. Democratic-Republican Dominance Initially, political parties did not play a significant role in Kentucky politics. The election of the state’s first governor, Isaac Shelby, in 1792 featured little of the partisanship that has since come to characterize Kentucky elections.1 Shortly after this election, 164 State and Local Institutions however, parties began to exert their influence in the state, and the party that exerted the most influence initially was the Democratic-Republican Party. The strong allegiance to the Democratic-Republicans was largely attributed to two factors. First, the uncertain frontier conditions in Kentucky at the time made the governmental stability trumpeted by the Democratic-Republicans very attractive. The second factor was the state’s ties to Virginia. The Jeffersonian idea emerging from Virginia that an aristocracy would naturally lead was an easy sell to Kentucky’s economic and political elite.2 The early leaders of the Democratic-Republicans in Kentucky were George Nicholas and John Breckinridge. Nicholas, the state’s first attorney general, is best known as the architect of the state’s 1792 constitution. Breckinridge, a lawyer and horse breeder, held a variety of positions in Kentucky state government before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1799 and ultimately being appointed U.S. attorney general by Thomas Jefferson in 1805. The opposition to the Democratic-Republicans in Kentucky was the Federalists. For the most part, however, Federalists were minor political players, and members of this party in the state were frequent targets of ridicule and scorn.3 The most significant victory claimed by the Federalists belonged to Humphrey Marshall, who defeated Breckinridge, John Fowler, and John Edwards for election to the U.S. Senate in 1794. Although Marshall was a well-known politician in the state, it is generally believed that political occurrences at the national level were the primary reason for his election.4 Victories such as this for Federalists in Kentucky were the exception rather than the rule. The deaths of Nicholas in 1799 and Breckinridge in 1806 left a leadership vacuum for the Democratic-Republicans in Kentucky that was quickly filled by the legendary Henry Clay, who went on to become one of Kentucky’s most famous and beloved political leaders. Clay, a successful lawyer, moved to Lexington from Virginia in 1797. He quickly acquired a vast amount of property in the state, which helped him cultivate a connection with the state’s conservative landowning class that would serve him very well politically.5 Clay took an interest in politics in the early 1800s, voicing opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts and advocating the emancipation of slaves in Kentucky. Running as a Democratic-Republican, Clay was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly in 1803. He became such a well-liked leader in the General Assembly that he was chosen in 1806 to complete the term of John Breckinridge...