This story was originally published in partnership with the Kentucky Lantern, an outlet of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
PAINT LICK — Kevin Brown, an attorney whose family has owned a subsistence farm in Garrard County for several generations, says cost of living is a big issue in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District race.
Brown’s farm was the site of a meet-and-greet for the Democratic candidate, Zach Dembo, in the election in mid-September. A few dozen people showed up in what Brown said is “definitely a red county.”
“If you go talk to the neighbor next door here, who’s a Republican, we’re going to probably agree on 90% of things about cost of living, about different things,” Brown said. “And Zach is, I think, the type of person that can bring people together like that.”
The November election between Dembo, 40, a former federal prosecutor and veteran, and Ralph Alvarado, 56, a doctor and former state senator, is about 40 days away. Both candidates launched their first general election ads the week after Labor Day, and PACs are funding ads — one aligned with Gov. Andy Beshearand one aligned with President Donald Trump.
Democrats in the 6th District say the race is shaping up around affordability issues among Kentuckians, but Republicans say Democrats don’t have the best track record with the central region of the state. The current seat holder, Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, is running for Senate. Barr first won the House seat in 2012.
Still, Dembo, in Garrard County, told the Kentucky Lantern that people in the district “are ready for a change.”
“The race is not about Democrat versus Republican,” Dembo added, sounding a bit like Beshear, whom he worked for during the governor’s first term. “It’s about people being fed up with both parties and the system.”
Dembo said voters in the central Kentucky district “are seeing “very tangible impacts of the cost of corruption in D.C” through the effects of the war in Iran and high gas and grocery prices. Dembo said Congress should “do its damn job.”
“They have the power to stop it, and they just aren’t,” he said. “So it’s the perfect parable for self-serving politicians serving themselves and getting rich instead of working for us.”
In another part of the district, Kate Bixler, the chair of the Madison County Democrats, said she is hearing not just from members of her party, but also independent and Republican voters that the election is “coming down to the back-breaking costs and corruption versus affordability, and people wanting to see some accountability.” As of August, about12.5% of registered voters in the 6th District are independent or third-party voters.
Nevertheless, in the largest county in the district, Fayette County, local Republican Party Chairman Fran Anderson said Democrats as a whole are not offering something voters want and he sees enthusiasm for Alvarado. He said the party has become “so socialist and communist that people are starting really to turn against them.” Other Kentucky Republicans on the ballot this year, including Barr and U.S. Rep. James Comer, have also framed theNovember electionsas GOP values versus “socialism.”
“We can talk about affordability and all that stuff, but this is what I’m hearing,” Anderson said.
Alvarado defended Republicans’ policies to address the cost of living during a press conference at the end of August, pointing to the Working Families Tax Credits passed during Trump’s second term.
The road to Election Day
Alvarado also said during that press conference, where he received an endorsement from the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police, that he believed there are still a lot of undecided voters in the race between him and Dembo.
“It’s a matter of understanding what Kentuckians need and want, and earning the trust of Kentuckians every day,” he said. “As having been a doctor here who’s advanced the policies that matter to people in Kentucky, I think I’ve done a good job for that, and I’m going to continue to tell my story. The things that we’ve done, the things that we plan to do, and having proper vision.”
Though anchored by Lexington, a college town that is the second largest city in the state, the 6th District is surrounded by red, rural counties. During the last presidential election in 2024, Trump carried the district by 15 points. Barr was also on the ballot that year and won reelection by 27 points.
However, Beshear, who won two terms in Kentucky, has carried the district by 19 points in the past. The governor endorsed Dembo after the primary and has been on the campaign trail with him.
In the weeks ahead, both Dembo and Alvarado will continue to make their pitches to voters. At this point, it’s unclear if they will do that at the same time. In early September, Alvarado’s campaign said he agreed to a debate with Spectrum, while Dembo’s campaign said he will do debates with WKYT and KET.
A poll from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is backing Dembo, had the race tied at 47% between Dembo and Alvarado in early August. However, race watchers like the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ballstill have the outcome of the race favoring Republicans.
Bixler, the Madison County Democrat, said that “no matter what happens in November, there will be progress one way or the other.”
“And I really do believe it’s only the beginning for the party reviving and redefining itself here,” she said.
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