Democrat Cassie Chambers Armstrong won a Special Election for a Kentucky Senate seat Tuesday night, defeating Republican Misty Glin.
Armstrong will take over the state Senate District 19 seat vacated when now U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, also a Democrat, was elected to Congress.
Armstrong currently serves as a Louisville Metro City Council member. She won with 77% of the vote, according to the Courier Journal.
“Every day we see headlines about the majority in the General Assembly attacking LGBTQ youth, continuing to starve our public schools and the children that rely on them, and writing laws that put women’s lives at risk,” Armstrong said in a statement, according to the Journal. “There is an urgent need for change in Frankfort, and I’m grateful that the voters of the 19th Senate District have given me the chance to fight for them.”
Armstrong’s victory doesn’t move the needle for Democrats’ presence in the state capitol. She’ll serve as one of just seven Democrats in the Senate, where GOP officials hold 30 seats.
Senate District 19 is a rare blue seat in deep red Kentucky. There, Democrats make up more than 61% of the electorate, while Republicans hold less than 28%, according to the most recent L2 voter data.
Democrats have a pick-up opportunity in another open race in a Special Election. Voters will decide on a replacement to departed District 28 Republican Sen. Ralph Alvarado who left the post to serve as the state’s Health Commissioner. The district between Frankfort and Richmond has a significant voter advantage for Democrats, with more than 52% of the electorate compared to just over 38% for Republicans.
No one has so far filed to run in that district.
