Elections

Owensboro homebuilder Ed Marksberry has announced that he intends to seek the Democratic nomination to run for U.S. Senate in 2014.

It would be Marksberry's second run for a seat among Kentucky's federal delegation. Two years ago he was trounced in a lopsided race against U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie in the 2nd District.

If Marksberry wins, he would face long-serving Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a tenacious campaigner and fundraiser who already has banked nearly $7 million.

Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson will not be a Democratic Senate candidate in 2014, taking on the nation's most powerful Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Abramson says having served about a quarter-century as Louisville Mayor before taking on his current post, he sees himself more as an executive, than a legislator.

Democrats and Republicans have nominated candidates to run for an open Senate seat in southern Kentucky. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that officials from each political party had separate meetings on Thursday and approved the nominations of Republican state Rep. Sara Beth Gregory of Monticello and Democrat Bill Conn, a teacher in Williamsburg who is making his first run for public office.

A recanvass of votes does not change the outcome of a state House race in western Kentucky. Election officials in Daviess, Union, and Henderson counties re-calculated votes Thursday and the outcome revealed the same margin of victory for the incumbent.