This was, for the most part, an off-year for Kentucky elections. But in Louisville’s South End, voters have the chance to fill a recent vacancy in the state Senate just before the start of the 2026 General Assembly, in which lawmakers will craft the state’s next two-year budget.
David Yates, who vacated the seat earlier this year to serve as Jefferson County clerk, was elected to the seat as a Democrat in 2020. He beat his Republican opponent, U.S. Army veteran Calvin Leach, by 20 percentage points in 2024; Leach is once again running for the seat.
Meanwhile, Democrats selected local union leader Gary Clemons, also an Army veteran, as their nominee. One third-party candidate is also vying for the spot; Wendy Higdon, a surgical technologist, is the Libertarian Party’s nominee.
Early, no-excuse, in-person voting is already underway. People within the district can vote early on through Saturday or on Election Day, Dec. 16. For more information on voting locations, click here. Ballot drop boxes will also be available at voting locations and at the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office Election Center.
The district has about 75,300 eligible voters as of November, according to the State Board of Elections, with about 57% registered as Democrats and 30% as Republicans.
Find out more about each candidate on the ballot below. (Listed in alphabetical order)
Gary Clemons — Democratic nominee
The Louisville Democratic Party selected Gary Clemons as its nominee. Clemons is a U.S. Army veteran and president of United Steelworkers Local 1693. He is a lifelong south Louisville resident who has worked at American Synthetic Rubber Company in Rubbertown since 1996.
“I’ve spent my life working alongside the people who keep Louisville running — in factories, in unions, and in neighborhoods,” Clemons said. “Working families deserve a voice in Frankfort that understands their struggles and will fight for their future.”
Clemons says he wants to expand health care access in the district and ensure more services and support for veterans. Clemons says he would bring his experience as a labor leader to Frankfort and wants to bring more high-paying jobs to his district.
Wendy Higdon — Libertarian nominee
Wendy Higdon is the Libertarian party’s pick for the vacant state Senate seat. The surgical technologist and foster parent has previous experience in politics — she founded the Louisville Tea Party in 2009 and then ran as a Democrat for the Kentucky state House in 2012.
Higdon said she aligns most closely with the Libertarian party because of her views on taxation and belief in personal liberties.
“You don't want somebody just to go and vote along party lines, no matter what is best for the community, no matter who you're voting for, no matter what you're doing. That just doesn't feel right,” Higdon said. “So if you're looking for something different, that's me.”
Higdon said she supports the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s plan of incrementally lowering the income tax and wants to eliminate property taxes on personal homes and vehicles. She said she believes the state should freeze spending until the state’s debts are erased.
“You have to have shelter, you have to have transportation, you have to have food, you have to have medical care.” Higdon said. “The things that are required to just exist as a human being should be tax free, just innately. Then I think that would help a lot of the families locally.”
Higdon also calls for breaking up Jefferson County Public Schools into smaller districts and having more parental involvement in education.
Calvin Leach — Republican nominee
The Jefferson County Republican Party selected Calvin Leach, a U.S. Army veteran, as their nominee. Leach previously ran as the Republican pick in 2024 against incumbent Sen. David Yates — a race he lost by about 8,600 votes. Leach supports phasing out the income tax, a priority of the Republican-controlled legislature, and tough-on-crime legislation.
He has called for a Kentucky State Police post in Louisville and said he could see himself supporting a deployment of the National Guard to Louisville, describing it as an “outside option” to consider should crime become more rampant.
“I'm a believer in the broken windows theory. I think that if you're in a neighborhood and you see a broken window, and it's a good neighborhood, that window will get fixed relatively quickly. But if it's a bad neighborhood, that window will not get fixed,” Leach said. “Unfortunately, that's the case in some of these upper parts of the district, and there is a sense of neglect and no real hope for a better quality of life. So that's really what I want to address.”
As his nomination was announced, Kentucky Public Radio reported on a Medium article Leach wrote in 2018 that railed against millennial women, using vulgar epithets including “promiscuous skanks,” “coddled americunts,” “party whores” and “damn sloots” — internet slang for slut. Leach originally stood by the article in an interview with KPR before deleting it.
