It’s Election Day. So why doesn’t Kentucky have any this year?
While your calendar might say Tuesday, Nov. 4 is Election Day, Kentuckians could be forgiven for not knowing, given there aren’t any regular, statewide elections in the Bluegrass State this year.
The reason why is due to a unique quirk with Kentucky’s elections schedule, as Secretary of State Michael Adams explains.
If you’re curious, we break it down, along with the of choices voters will have before them in 2026, when everything from an open U.S. Senate seat to school board races will be on the ballot. Here’s what to know about Kentucky’s off-year for elections.
Why isn’t Kentucky holding elections on Election Day 2025?
Put simply, Kentucky does not have any scheduled elections Nov. 4 because there are no major statewide, federal or special elections on that date.
This is confirmed by Kentucky’s election schedule, which in 2025, shows no U.S. House or Senate races, no state legislature races and no races for state officers, such as for governor or attorney general.
Between 2026 and 2036, the state’s election schedule includes gubernatorial and other statewide officer races in odd-numbered years: 2027, 2031 and 2035, for example. Federal races, including for president and Congressional races, occur in even years. State House and Senate races, as well as local officials, follow a similar pattern. There’s another off-year in 2029.
So what’s up with the weird election schedule? As explained by Adams, who is tasked with overseeing the state’s elections, it comes down to a unique quirk.
“In 1992, Kentuckians voted to amend our state constitution to give themselves, and election officials, a year off from elections once every four years,” Adams told the Herald-Leader in an emailed statement, referring to ballot measure No. 2, put before voters in the general election that year.
“In that amendment, local officials elected in 1993 were given a one-year extension to their four-year term, and from 1998 forward they have been elected in midterm elections, along with Congress and the General Assembly, rather than in an odd year,” Adams said.
Which races will be on the ballot in 2026?
While there isn’t much action this year, Kentucky voters will have a long list of races to weigh in on next year.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is not running for reelection in 2026 and is ending his four-decade long career in representing Kentucky. It’s the first open Senate seat the state has had since 2010, and several candidates on both sides of the aisle are competing for it.
Additionally, all U.S. House districts in Kentucky are holding elections.
In the Central Kentucky-based 6th Congressional district, there’s a crowded field of candidates vying to replace Republican Andy Barr, who’s running for McConnell’s seat.
Several other down-ballot races will also be resolved in 2026, including:
- Half of the 38-member Kentucky Senate (all even-numbered districts)
- All 100 seats of Kentucky’s House of Representatives
- Kentucky Supreme Court District 3 (seat of Chief Justice Debra Lambert)
- All Kentucky District Court judges
- School board races
- County offices, including for judge-executive, magistrates, commissioners, county clerk, county attorney, jailer, coroner, surveyor, property valuation administrator, constable and sheriff
- City offices, including for mayor and city councils. In Lexington, Mayor Linda Gorton all 13 city council seats are up for reelection next year.
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