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Retired Teacher Faces Former Student In 6th District State House Race

Chris Freeland Facebook Page and Linda Story Edwards Facebook Page

A retired Marshall County teacher is facing one of her former students for the 6th District State House Seat in the November midterm election.

Democratic candidate Linda Story Edwards is one of a dozen teachers who won their primary races in the commonwealth on Tuesday. She defeated Al Cunningham and Drew Williams.

Legislation attempting to fix Kentucky’s broken pension system prompted teachers to lead mass protests and political campaigns.

 

Edwards said she believes changes to Kentucky’s pension system have failed teachers and public workers in the state. She said even though she is not a one-issue candidate, she said a pension is a promise that has not been kept.

“This just needs to be worked out,” Story said. “And for this reason, I feel like these groups have been violated.”

Story said she was Republican candidate Chris Freeland’s Kindergarten teacher. She said even though she has maintained a good relationship with Freeland, “It is what it is, and I’m in the race to win.”

Freeland is a media businessman who owns Freeland Broadcasting, which encompasses WCBL, WCCK and the Marshall County Daily. He said he is “pro-teachers and pro-law enforcement” and doesn’t want to make the race about political affiliations.

Current Democratic representative Will Coursey is running for local judge-executive. The seat in the increasingly conservative district that covers Marshall and Lyon counties could flip in November.

Freeland said he respects Coursey’s time in Frankfort, but believes he was, at times, too loyal to his party and not to his constituents.  

“There’s a lot of representatives that can do that and it’s probably an easy thing to fall into when you’re in Frankfort,” Freeland said. “It’s just making sure that I stay in touch with the people here is very important to me.”

Freeland said the relationships he’s built with community members by working in radio helped him win on Tuesday.

 

He has said one of his goals in office is to collaborate with other state leaders in the region to attract businesses to the area.

Taylor is a recent Murray State University graduate where she studied journalism and history. When she's not reporting for WKMS, she enjoys creative writing and traveling. She loves writing stories that involve diversity, local culture and history, nature and recreation, art and music, and national or local politics. If you have a news tip or idea, shoot her an email at tinman1@murraystate.edu!
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