2012 Kentucky Senate election

2012 Kentucky Senate election

← 2010 6 November 2012 2014 →
19 out of 38 seats in the Kentucky Senate 20 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Robert Stivers R. J. Palmer Party Republican Democratic Leader since 2 November 2012 4 January 2011 Leader's seat 25th - Manchester 28th - Winchester Last election 22[a] 15 Seats after 23[a] 14 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 352,728 370,011 Percentage 48.65% 51.03%
Senate President before election David L. Williams Republican Elected Senate President Robert Stivers Republican

The 2012 Kentucky Senate election was held on 6 November 2012 to determine which party would control the Kentucky Senate for the following two years in the 2013 Kentucky General Assembly. All odd-numbered seats were up for election, which consisted of half of the 38 senate seats and the primary was held on 22 May 2012. Prior to the election 22 seats were held by Republicans and 15 were held by Democrats, while one was held by Independent senator Bob Leeper, who caucused with the Republicans. The general election saw the Republicans increase their majority by a single seat.^[1]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[2]	Safe R	24 October 2012

Retirements

1. 1st District: Kenneth W. Winters (R) retired.
2. 15th District: Vernie McGaha (R) retired.
3. 23rd District: Jack Westwood (R) retired.

Incumbents defeated

1. 3rd District: Joey Pendleton (D) lost re-election to Whitney Westerfield.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 3, 0.82% (gain)
2. District 21, 7.64%

Results

1st District

1st District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stanley H. Humphries	28,338	59.31%
	Democratic	Carroll Hubbard	19,445	40.69%
Total votes			47,783	100.0%
	Republican hold

3rd District

3rd District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Whitney Westerfield	18,457	50.41%
	Democratic	Joey Pendleton (incumbent)	18,160	49.59%
Total votes			36,617	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

5th District

5th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carroll Gibson (incumbent)	32,028	100.0%
Total votes			32,028	100.0%
	Republican hold

7th District

7th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Julian Carroll (incumbent)	33,404	59.00%
	Republican	Frank Haynes	23,213	41.00%
Total votes			56,617	100.0%
	Democratic hold

9th District

9th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Givens (incumbent)	33,874	100.0%
Total votes			33,874	100.0%
	Republican hold

11th District

11th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Schickel (incumbent)	46,962	100.0%
Total votes			46,962	100.0%
	Republican hold

13th District

13th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Stein (incumbent)	30,365	100.0%
Total votes			30,365	100.0%
	Democratic hold

15th District

15th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chris Girdler	36,946	100.0%
Total votes			36,946	100.0%
	Republican hold

17th District

17th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Damon Thayer (incumbent)	35,343	66.35%
	Democratic	David Holcomb	17,926	33.65%
Total votes			53,269	100.0%
	Republican hold

19th District

19th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Morgan McGarvey (incumbent)	39,327	100.0%
Total votes			39,327	100.0%
	Democratic hold

21st District

21st District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Albert Robinson	20,490	53.82%
	Democratic	Amie Hacker	17,583	46.18%
Total votes			38,073	100.0%
	Republican hold

23rd District

23rd District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Christian McDaniel	23,993	59.98%
	Democratic	James Noll	16,010	40.02%
Total votes			40,003	100.0%
	Republican hold

25th District

25th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Stivers (incumbent)	21,198	63.95%
	Democratic	Ralph Hoskins	11,949	36.05%
Total votes			33,147	100.0%
	Republican hold

27th District

27th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter Blevins (incumbent)	24,977	63.51%
	Republican	Tony Downey	14,350	36.49%
Total votes			39,327	100.0%
	Democratic hold

29th District

29th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johnny Ray Turner (incumbent)	24,644	100.0%
Total votes			24,644	100.0%
	Democratic hold

31st District

31st District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ray Jones II (incumbent)	25,303	100.0%
Total votes			25,303	100.0%
	Democratic hold

33rd District

33rd District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald Neal (incumbent)	33,986	93.68%
	Independent	Norris Shelton	2,291	6.32%
Total votes			36,277	100.0%
	Democratic hold

35th District

35th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Denise Harper Angel (incumbent)	32,126	100.0%
Total votes			32,126	100.0%
	Democratic hold

37th District

37th District election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Perry B. Clark (incumbent)	24,806	58.58%
	Republican	Chris Thieneman	17,536	41.42%
Total votes			42,342	100.0%
	Democratic hold

Notes

1. Independent senator Bob Leeper caucused with the Republicans.

References

1. "Kentucky State Senate elections, 2012". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
2. Daigneau, Elizabeth; Jacobson, Louis (2012-10-23). "The Latest Chamber-by-Chamber Analysis of the 2012 State Legislative Elections". Governing. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2025.