One of far western Kentucky’s only contested state legislative races is for District 3 – which covers Livingston County and part of McCracken County.
The Republican incumbent, realtor Randy Bridges, is running for his fifth term in office, and is facing a challenge from Democratic small business owner Michael McVicker.
Both candidates agreed to participate in WKMS’s Voter Guide. Their responses appear below in the order the candidates will be listed on the ballot. Livingston and McCracken County voters can find other races up for election next month by searching for their county’s sample ballot on the Secretary of State’s website or by using WKMS’s ballot lookup tool.
Randy Bridges - Republican (Incumbent)
Editor’s note: Bridges submitted written answers to WKMS’s Voter Guide questions. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What should voters know about you and why are you running for office?
A: I'm a lifelong western Kentuckian and a longtime resident of McCracken County. I have raised my children and staked my future right here. I'm the son of a plumber, I never went to college and I opened my first business in my mid 20s. Everything I know about payroll, budgets and risk I learned by having to go make it work myself. That's the perspective I bring to District 3 – McCracken and Livingston Counties – to strengthen our economy, infrastructure and opportunities.
Why am I running? I have four grandchildren, and I ask myself a simple question about them: Why would they stay here? If there isn't a good job, training to get it, dependable power to run the plant that offers it and a road to drive to it, they'll leave and you don't get them back. We have to give the next generation a reason to stay and build their future here.
Q: What would your priorities be, if elected?
A: To keep western Kentucky moving forward. My priorities haven't changed since I was first elected to office eight years ago. I plan to continue capitalizing on our strengths and investing in our communities by fighting for critical funding and resources to improve and extend infrastructure such as water, sewer, roads and dependable energy. This will provide for primary needs to be met as our community grows. Items such as housing, schools, etc. I also want to keep expanding vocational and workforce training in both counties so our own people are the ones filling the new jobs coming here.
Q: What do you see as the signature issue for the state and in this district that you would address in this next term?
A: The signature issue is the same one I started with. Good paying jobs close to home, and the energy and infrastructure it takes to land them.
When I was first elected to office I was concerned about the lack of good paying jobs. Back then a major economic announcement in our area might mean a few dozen positions. Now, we are announcing major companies employing thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent career opportunities. These are not minimum wage jobs, they are careers that pay enough to support a family, a mortgage, funding college tuition, building a retirement plan, etc.
That growth doesn't happen without the power to run it, so energy production is central to this next term. Energy is economy. You can't land a plant, a factory or a data center without dependable power behind it. It also doesn't happen without a competitive tax climate. We've brought Kentucky's income tax from 5% down to 3.5%, which keeps more money in the pockets of our working families and makes this a state employers want to build in.
Q: How would you work to improve the quality of life for residents in this district?
A: With success comes growing pains. Our area is starting to see this. The next steps will be to address items such as extending infrastructure such as sewer and water in both counties, and focus on energy production to meet our expansion needs, continue to fund our roadways to alleviate traffic constraints around our area and provide training for skilled labor to meet the increase in new jobs coming to our area. That's part of why the Livingston County Career and Technical Center mattered so much, a student there can learn a trade at home instead of driving an hour to do it. This is just to name a few, there's so many other items to address as our community continues to grow.
Q: What have you accomplished during your time in office and why should people vote you back in?
A: In eight years there has been more than $3.5 billion either currently invested or committed to our community.
The biggest piece of that is energy. $3.3 billion in investment right here in McCracken County, bringing roughly 6,000 construction jobs and nearly 500 permanent careers. I sponsored Kentucky's nuclear baseload resolution, carried the nuclear energy development grant program in the House and I serve on the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority. Energy is economy, you can't land a plant without the power to run it.
In Livingston County, we secured $60 million for the new bridge at Smithland, $20 million to expand the county water system, $6.7 million to repair Smithland's wastewater system and $5.68 million for the Livingston County Career and Technical Center. In McCracken County, we have funded several local economic development projects such as the new aviation mechanics school at WKCTC, $4 million to expand career and technical education at McCracken County High School, the new Paducah River Front at the foot of Broadway, funding to build and expand the Paducah Riverport West, $14.8 million toward the new terminal at Barkley Regional Airport, $1.2 million to replace roughly 30,000 feet of aging water line in midtown Paducah and so many more.
We have also lowered the income tax from 5% to 3.5% which keeps more money in the pockets of our working families. We have protected the lives of unborn children.
The reason to send me back is simple. Eight years in, I know where the money is, which committee a project has to get through and who to call. You don't hand that off and start over without losing ground. There's still a bridge to finish, still water and sewer lines to run and still young people to train for the jobs coming here. I'd like to keep at it.
Just go to reelectrandybridges.com to see what has been accomplished in eight short years.
Michael McVicker – Democrat
Editor’s note: McVicker participated in an interview with WKMS to answer Voter Guide questions. His answers have been transcribed and edited for length and clarity. You can also listen to his interview below.
Q: What should voters know about you and why are you running for office?
A: I'm 26 years old. I'm the father of two wonderful little kids … and I own a small sharpening business here in McCracken County, doing knives, scissors, lawn tools, all that sort of stuff.
When my son was born in 2022, there was a national formula shortage and I was sitting at home freaking out about that. And I decided to look up like why that was happening and, really, the answer was that private equity is kind of taking over our economy and Abbott, the company that makes Similac, spent more money [during the] two years before the formula shortage on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends than they had in the history of the company. And I kind of saw that pattern repeat across the economy and realized that, you know, if my kids aren't going to be the third generation in a row to do worse off than their parents, then someone probably needs to run for office and start, like, fighting for working people.
Q: What would your priorities be, if elected?
A: Actually, I have a policy page on my website and, really, it's just about reorienting our state government to focus on working people instead of out-of-state corporations. Pre-K for all, expanding trade apprenticeships, banning NDAs for homeowners surrounding projects like data centers and nuclear projects and everything else. Making policy that really makes our systems work for working people. Because … our state legislature has kind of been, you know, listening to lobbyists and listening to their corporate donors. Also, our basic systems that everybody has to interact with has just started like deteriorating and [become] harder to use, you know.
Q: What do you see as the signature issue for the state and in this district that you would address in this next term?
A: Well, one thing is affordability and food access because if we're going to have 10,000-plus construction workers come for all these projects, the state – and the county, really – need to sit down and talk about housing because it's going to end up pushing all sorts of young working families out of the market if there's this influx of workers. One in five kids in McCracken County lacks food. One in four in Livingston County, which is part of the district.
The other thing is calling for accountability when it comes to these projects at the [U.S. Department of Energy] site. We always talk about the job creation and how much economic benefit is going to be, but no one is demanding or asking questions or acknowledging that Peter Thiel has his hands [in the development of the General Matter uranium enrichment facility], which is really scary for you know, working people here in McCracken County.
Q: How would you work to improve the quality of life for residents in this district?
A: Just again, trying to orientate policy in our state government to work for working people, whether it's getting the increasing amount of middlemen between your doctor and your health insurance provider [removed] … that just makes it harder to access healthcare. Makes it harder for nurses and doctors to actually see their patients because they're so much like corporate bureaucracy. Really, helping food access, helping our farmers, and really just fighting and making sure that life actually works for working people here in this district.
Q: What needs to change in state government, and why should people vote you into office to do that?
A: Oh, this is my favorite one. So, really, what's been happening in the state government – especially the last like 10, 15 years since we've kind of switched from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority – is that, especially my opponent, he is a state chair for the American Legislative Exchange Council… We should really be banning those sorts of those sorts of …corporate-written bills because they just really don't reflect what the actual voters want. It's really benefiting out-of-state corporations over the working people in the district.
And another thing is that, especially on tax bills and giant economic benefit bills, the Republican supermajority has spent the last handful of years hiding the fiscal notes. It's like they'll be there in the original bill draft but as changes, you know, happen, they'll start hiding it. And it's like, ‘hey, maybe, you know, it should be accessible to the people to go see the actual economic impact of a bill instead of hiding it because you know it's actually like not as good as you say it is.’ And especially just, like, trying to just get rid as much as, like, lobbyist and corporate influence in the state government.
Q: Was there anything else you wanted voters to know about you and your platform?
A: My big thing is just trying to stand up for working people. I want to be accessible to everyone. My opponent has refused to debate me. My opponent refused my certified [mailed invitation] to debate, and also the other four different ways I tried to get a debate. I think that our elected officials should have to put their platform and defend it every election, which is something that I, you know, am guaranteeing that I will do.
And, really, I just want to be accessible. You should be able to come yell at me in public. You should be able to come track me down and find answers. My office should be able to answer questions … as fast as humanly possible, and really just be accessible to the working people of this district.
