Election 1998: Key control decisions determined by voters
Three major questions were asked - now answered - by Kentucky citizens
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, Jan, 1999

Three major, state-control questions were to be answered in the Nov. 3 elections:  Will Republicans sweep the federal offices in Congress?  Will Democrats continue to control the Kentucky state senate?  And will the Kentucky General Assembly meet every year or continue to meet every other year as it does currently?  All three were answered, but not in the decisive way many anticipated.

Federal Races

All seven of Kentucky’s challengeable seats in Congress — six U.S. Representative seats as well as the one open U.S. Senate seat — had at least two, if not three, contenders vying for the position.  Three of them were extremely close and left the answer to the first question at issue until late into the evening when it became clear that six of the seven seats would go Republican and one would go Democrat.

The U.S. Senate race featuring 4th District Congressman Jim Bunning (R) against 6th District Congressman Scotty Baesler (D) proved to be the most hotly contested race both in terms of the margin of victory and the apparent emotions of the candidates toward one another.  Social Security and taxation became the two most frequent topics in the pre-election bantering.  Accusations and distortions characterized the television campaigns and most news prognosticators were unwilling to project the winner.

Both candidates could be described as “independent” in regard to their respective parties with the primary distinction being that Bunning advocates a more conservative social agenda with Baesler moderating between centrist and liberal, varying on the specific issue.  In the end, Bunning triumphed with a 1 percent margin of victory.

Perhaps the most unusual federal race involved state Sen. Gex “Jay” Williams against Ken Lucas.  In this contest both candidates “ran to the right,” advocating very conservative positions, including on the controversial abortion issue.  Williams, who has been described as a firebrand from both of his stints in the state House and Senate and who orchestrated the ouster of Sen. Eck Rose as president of the state Senate in 1997, has been known for his underdog, come-from-behind victories.  This time he was stopped short, releasing the Democrats to seize the 4th District seat for the first time in years.

Another race, distinctive in its own right, pitted former state Rep. and physician Ernie Fletcher against state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone for the seat vacated by Scotty Baesler, the 6th congressional district.  Here the two candidates were on opposite ends of the social-issue spectrum and yet the issues debated in the race were primarily fiscal in nature — health care, Social Security and taxation.

With Scorsone’s radical pro-homosexual, pro-abortion and strong, “free speech” advocacy record, it was a surprise to everyone that there was not a higher profile battle with the Fletcher “family-values” camp.  When it was all over, Scorsone fell by 7 percentage points but surprised most observers with his campaign’s tenacity.

As expected, incumbent Republican Ann Northrup retained her seat, defeating pro-life Democrat Chris Gorman in the 3rd district.  Republican Reps. Ed Whitfield, Ron Lewis, and Hal Rogers from the 1st, 2nd and 5th districts respectively were returned to Washington with anticipated ease.

State Senate Races

The second major strategic question to be answered by the election focused on the Democrat’s ability to control the state General Assembly — specifically the state Senate.  Sixteen senate seats were decided with two sitting Democrats and six sitting Republicans challenged, and eight open seats formerly held by five Democrats and three Republicans.  Each party, therefore, a large share of its seats on the line.

Democrats were counting on maintaining all their seats, possibly giving up one, thus perfectly balancing the senate with 19 Democrats and 19 Republicans.  Republicans were hoping to pick up two seats and actually become the majority party.  At evening’s end two seats actually changed parties, but one went Democrat and the other Republican, leaving a net “no change” in the balance of power.

Annual Assembly Sessions

The sleeper issue of election night was constitution amendment one that provided for annual sessions for the General Assembly.  Very little attention was given to the issue, most likely because of the intensity of the federal races.

Proponents pointed out that annual sessions would take power from the governor’s office by reducing the need for the governor to call special, “targeted” sessions where only he is allowed to determine their focus.  Opponents argued that it would just increase the size of government and dramatically raise the number of new laws, doing both while there is not yet a healthy balance of power between the two statewide parties — currently Democrats control the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the Assembly.

All in all, when the night was over the status quo prevailed: Kentucky will have one Democrat and five Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives; 20 Democrats and 18 Republicans in the state Senate; and will continue only with its even-year sessions of the General Assembly as currently stipulated by the state constitution.

The “only” substantial change generated by the 1998 election exercise is that the state will have both of its U.S. Senators hail from the Republican party.  But one more fact is worth noting: Kentucky’s congressional delegation — two senators and six congressmen — all espouse prolife positions.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst