Hillary Clinton an issue in pivotal Central Kentucky state House race | Lexington Herald Leader

The national race for president is popping up in a state House race in Central Kentucky that has become a battleground for party control of the law-making chamber.

Democrat Chuck Tackett of Georgetown, who has represented the 62nd House District that covers Owen County, much of Scott County and part of Fayette County since a special election in March, is the target of a TV ad that tries to tie him with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Democratic President Barack Obama.

The two national politicians are unpopular in much of Kentucky.

The ad, which is paid for by an out-of-state group called the Republican State Leadership Committee, tries to align Tackett with the Washington Democratic agenda. In the ad, Clinton says “we’re gonna put a lot of coal miners out of business,” followed by a narrator who says “her supporters are bankrolling Chuck Tackett” because Tackett “voted to expand Obamacare.”

Tackett, a farmer and former county magistrate for eight years, said the GOP ad is “ridiculous.”

“I don’t know how they can get away with something like that,” he said.

Tackett said he has never met Hillary Clinton, “and I know she is not bankrolling my campaign.” He noted that he trails Republican opponent Phillip Pratt in campaign funds. The latest state campaign finance reports show that Tackett has raised $58,950, compared to Pratt’s $147,231. In the March primary election, Tackett outraised Pratt, $147,058 to $96,912.

Tackett also said he has never voted on the federal Affordable Care Act, which is often called Obamacare.

“Congress has many times but the Kentucky legislature has not,” he said.

The ad apparently refers to Tackett’s vote for the Kentucky budget and legislation that supported Kynect, the state health care exchange created by former Gov. Steve Beshear under the federal health care law, and a related expansion of Medicaid in Kentucky.

The presidential race is “a factor in our race,” said Pratt. He lost to Tackett by 253 votes — 3,463 to 3,210 — in a spring special election to fill the seat for the rest of this year after Republican Ryan Quarles was elected state agriculture commissioner last November. Tackett led in all three counties — 124 to 91 in Fayette, 727 to 720 in Owen and 2,612 to 2,399 in Scott.

Pratt, who founded Pratt’s Lawn and Landscape, said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was not his first or second choice, but “I will not vote for Hillary.”

Tackett declined to say who will get his vote in the presidential race. “Voting is a secret ballot,” he said.

The election on Tuesday will decide who represents the 62nd District for the next two years in the 100-member state House of Representatives. Democrats now control the state House 53-47 and Republicans hope to take it over for the first time since 1920.

Tackett, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Quarles in 2014, also is running an ad that attacks Pratt, claiming that he has had tax problems with his business.

The ad claims Republicans are trying to hide Pratt’s record: “A state tax lien. A failure to pay what he owed,” says a narrator.

“It’s a lie,” Pratt said. “He is desperate.”

The district leans Democratic in voter registration, with 18,263 Democrats and 14,405 Republicans, though it routinely votes for Republicans in federal elections.

Major issues in the district include the state’s financially troubled retirement systems, improving education and improving infrastructure, said Pratt. Tackett lists them as education, pension funding and the drug epidemic.

“I have a lot more experience in government and can work across party lines,” Tackett said. “I’m tired of the Washington-style partisan politics that has paralyzed our state government, leading to more bickering and fewer solutions to our state’s most pressing needs, like making sure that Kentucky families can raise their children in strong communities, with good jobs, and schools that provide our young people with an education built for the 21st century.”

Pratt, playing on his business background, said he will “change the landscape in Frankfort.”

“We need more jobs and less government if we hope to set Kentucky on a brighter path. Government dependency saps our economic strength and denies people the dignity that comes from a job earned,” he said. “It is the private sector that ultimately creates jobs, not government. Ever since the Great Recession first hit our communities, we have suffered through hard times as we rebuild what was lost. But as long as Washington stands in the way, growth will continue to be slow.”