Only two state offices in far western Kentucky will have contested primary elections. Both the Senate District 1 seat and the Representative District 2 seat will hold primaries on the GOP side of the ballot.
However – since no Democrat filed for either of those offices – those primaries will ultimately determine who will represent parts of Kentucky’s westernmost counties in the state legislature.
Republican voters in the 1st Senate District – which includes Calloway, Crittenden, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Lyon and Trigg counties – will have a choice between incumbent state Sen. Jason Howell of Murray and former state Rep. Lynn Bechler of Marion. GOP voters in the 2nd House District – which includes all of Graves County and part of McCracken County – will choose between incumbent Rep. Richard Heath of Mayfield and Kim Holloway, also from the Graves County seat.
Election Day is on May 21. Excused in-person absentee voting is open May 8-10 and May 13-15. No-excuse absentee ballots will be available in-person at voting centers May 16-18. For more information on when and how to vote in the Kentucky Primary Election, visit the Kentucky State Board of Elections website.
Senate District 1: Howell vs. Bechler
Howell – who was originally from Fulton, but now lives and works as an attorney in Murray – was first elected to the Kentucky senate in 2020. He ran uncontested for the seat four years ago after former state Sen. Stan Humphries announced that he would not be running for reelection. Howell was named chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2023.
Speaking at a Graves County GOP candidate forum in late April, Howell said one of his top accomplishments from his first term was supporting legislation that laid the foundation for Kentucky to lower – and eventually eliminate – its state income tax.
He said he wants to continue work to get rid of that tax, but in a fiscally responsible manner.
“I would love to take that thing to zero right now. But if we do, we’re gonna produce funding gaps like what happened in Kansas a few years ago, they nearly bankrupted the state. Unfortunately, we have to do this responsibly. We have to have milestones for our rainy day fund,” he said. “We've been doing all of our budgeting in the last three or four years with this in mind, where we keep enough money in our rainy day fund to keep hitting our milestones and keep dropping that income tax rate.”
Meanwhile, Bechler, a retired engineer, is seeking his first term in the state Senate after serving five terms in the state House of Representatives from 2013 to 2022, representing District 4. After his home county was moved to District 12 in the redistricting process, Bechler lost to Rep. Jim Gooch in the 2022 GOP primary.
At the Graves County GOP forum, Bechler said some websites that evaluate legislators based on their votes on bills focusing on conservative and liberal topics have him ranked as more conservative than the incumbent Howell. For example, during Bechler’s last term as a state representative in 2022, the conservative organization CPAC’s Center for Legislative Accountability gave him a rating of 90 on a scale of 0 to 100, putting him in the top 10 conservative Kentucky state representatives that year. Howell’s most recent ranking from the same site in 2023 was 82.
Bechler took aim at some of Howell’s actions in the Senate office. This year, Howell was the primary sponsor of a Senate bill that would have allowed Murray State to launch a veterinary medicine program. That measure – along with an identical House measure – died in the Senate Education Committee. Bechler, who said he was a “vocal supporter” of the veterinary school initiative, said Howell could have done more to get the bill to the floor for consideration.
“There were over 20 co-sponsors of that legislation. The bill never got out of committee. Senator Howell did not file a discharge position which would have gone farther to getting a vote on that.” Bechler said.
The legislature passed a measure this year directing the Council on Postsecondary Education to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a veterinary medicine program at Murray State. Howell said while the veterinary school did not get final approval this year, he is confident that the groundwork has been laid for Murray State to get approval for the program in a few years.
In addition to working to lower the income tax, Howell said he also hopes to spur rural economic development opportunities in the Jackson Purchase area and surrounding region. That includes opportunities to develop riverports in western Kentucky, which he said could help industries in far western Kentucky, like agriculture, that use the waterways for shipping products.
Howell was the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 143, which proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar noncitizens from voting in any local election in Kentucky. The state’s voters will decide the ultimate fate of Howell’s proposal this November. While the state constitution already requires U.S. citizenship to vote in state elections, Howell said that this amendment would prevent cities and municipalities from allowing people without U.S. citizenship to vote in local races, something he said cities outside of Kentucky have tried to pass.
Bechler also said that he supports eliminating the state income tax. He was one of numerous co-sponsors of House legislation that outlined stepping stones for the Commonwealth to lower and eliminate the income tax. He also criticized another measure Howell sponsored in this year’s regular session that would have moved the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources from the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet – under the executive branch – to the Department of Agriculture. Several wildlife conservation and sportsmen groups opposed the measure, which ultimately did not pass.
He also said that he is “strongly opposed” to transgender women competing in women’s sports.
More information about the candidates can be found on Howell and Bechler’s campaign websites.
House District 2: Heath vs. Holloway
Richard Heath was first elected to the District 2 House seat in 2012, succeeding former Rep. Fred Nesler. The Mayfield conservative has chaired the House Agriculture Committee since 2017.
Heath argued that voters would benefit from his more than 10 years in the state chamber, and that they need someone with institutional knowledge on how the House operates.
“I have the experience and the relationship and the seniority to continue to bring in good things to Mayfield and Graves County and District 2, and I’ll continue to work hard for you,” Heath told Graves County Republican voters in late April.
Kim Holloway’s previous experience includes working as a social services director at a western Kentucky retirement community, and as a counselor with the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice. She also said that she is a small business owner. She previously ran a write-in campaign against Heath in the 2022 general election after being disqualified from the 2022 GOP primary over a paperwork error.
Holloway argued that District 2 needs a “changing of the guard” in its representation at the state legislature.
“Our community was struggling before the pandemic and before the tornado,” Holloway said. “The time for improvement is long overdue and my opponent has had ample opportunities to level the playing field. Instead, he has consistently supported legislation that is detrimental to our interests.”
Some of the legislation Holloway referred to included the 2022 act that reduced the state’s individual income tax – which Heath co-sponsored along with several other lawmakers – but also added sales taxes to certain services, such as utility services for locations excluding primary residences. She said that that bill did not save people money, but instead shifted taxes from income to sales taxes. Holloway said the Commonwealth needs a “fair income tax elimination plan that truly leaves your money in your pocket.”
Heath argued that the motive behind increasing services subject to sales tax and reducing the individual income tax is to “tax consumption, not production.”
Much of the House District 2, including downtown Mayfield, was impacted by the December 2021 tornado outbreak, damaging or destroying hundreds of structures, including Mayfield’s City Hall. Heath said – in part because of his experience and relationships with other legislators – he and Sen. Howell were able to secure over $54 million in state funding to go toward rebuilding the Mayfield City Hall, police station, fire station and the Graves County Fiscal Court Administrative Building.
Holloway also criticized the incumbent representative for what she described as inaction during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses, schools and churches were forced to close.
Voters can learn more about the candidates onHeath and Holloway’s respective campaign websites.
