Louisville union leader wins special election for Kentucky Senate seat
Democrat Gary Clemons has defeated Republican candidate Calvin Leach to win a seat representing Louisville in the Kentucky Senate.
Clemons won 73% of the vote in a special election for Senate District 37, which covers part of southwest Jefferson County.
The seat was previously held by Sen. David Yates, a Democrat who was recently appointed to replace the late Bobbie Holsclaw as Jefferson County clerk.
Clemons’ victory means Democrats will retain six seats in the 38-member Kentucky Senate.
Clemons is a U.S. Army veteran and a native of South Louisville who serves as president of United Steelworkers Local 1693. The union represents more than 200 workers at American Synthetic Rubber Co. in Louisville.
“I’ve spent my life working alongside the people who keep Louisville running — in factories, in shops, and in all jobs important in our neighborhoods – union or not,” Clemons said in a news release. “Working families deserve a voice in Frankfort that understands their struggles and will fight for their future.
“My life experience reflects that of so many in the South End. I’ve served as an Army Reservist, and for nearly two decades as a union leader — those experiences have shaped my leadership and my commitment to service. I understand the struggles of veterans and working families because I’ve lived them, and I am ready to take that same fight to Frankfort.”
GOP candidate Leach is also a military veteran. Leach lost the 2024 election for the seat to Yates by almost 21 points.
Clemons won by an even larger margin, about 46 points.
“Gary Clemons ran the kind of campaign that wins — authentic, grounded in working people’s real struggles, and unafraid to call out the policies that are hurting Kentucky families,” Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, said in a news release. “The Kentucky Senate Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee invested in this race because we knew Gary’s message would resonate. Tonight proves that when we organize, invest in infrastructure, and run on what matters to people’s lives, we win.”
Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said Clemons is the first union leader to be elected to the Kentucky General Assembly and “will ensure that workers always have a seat and a voice at the tables of power.”
“Tonight, South Louisville voters sent a clear message: they are fed up with Republicans ignoring, undermining and demeaning the workers that have built Kentucky’s economy, and want their elected leaders to focus on affordability, common sense and compassion,” Elridge said in a statement.
United Steelworkers District 8 Director Larry Ray said in a news release he was “incredibly proud” of Clemons.
“We knew that Gary would be a great candidate for the district,” he said. “Gary has lived in South Louisville his entire life, and he is well-known, heavily involved in his community, working charity events, from making sure kids have bikes for Christmas, to working on food drives. He brings that same energy to his members he represents as President of USW 1693.”
Herald-Leader political writer Austin Horn contributed to this report.
