World Courant
Kentucky State Rep. Kevin Bratcher plans to run for a Louisville Metro Council seat in 2024.The Republican is presently the chairman of a Home committee overseeing election laws and proposed constitutional amendments.Bratcher’s announcement coincides with ongoing recruitment of candidates for subsequent 12 months’s legislative races, the place the GOP holds supermajorities.
Kentucky State Rep. Kevin Bratcher introduced his plans Thursday to run for a Louisville Metro Council seat subsequent 12 months, which might culminate a protracted statehouse profession that put the Republican lawmaker on the forefront of college security, juvenile justice and a number of different points.
Bratcher has been a fixture within the Kentucky Home since 1997. He was a part of Home management as majority celebration whip when Republicans took management of the chamber within the 2017 session, following a tidal wave of GOP victories statewide within the 2016 election. That accomplished the GOP’s management of the Kentucky legislature, because the celebration already was answerable for the Senate. Bratcher is now chairman of a Home committee that wields jurisdiction over election laws and proposed constitutional amendments.
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Bratcher turns into the second Louisville-area lawmaker inside days to cross up a Home reelection run to as a substitute search a metro council seat in 2024. Democratic state Rep. Josie Raymond introduced comparable plans to run for metro council in one other district. Bratcher referred to it as “a heck of a coincidence.”
The outside of the Kentucky Capitol is considered on April 7, 2021, in Frankfort, Ky. State Rep. Kevin Bratcher introduced his plans on Nov. 30, 2023, to run for a Louisville Metro Council seat subsequent 12 months, which might culminate a protracted statehouse profession that put the Republican lawmaker on the forefront of college security, juvenile justice and a number of different points. (AP Photograph/Timothy D. Easley, File)
Bratcher’s Home district covers components of Jefferson County, together with Fern Creek. He mentioned Thursday that he sees the transfer as a “good match” for him.
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“The older I get, the extra I’m entering into native points, simply making an attempt to make Fern Creek and the town of Louisville a greater place to stay,” Bratcher mentioned in a telephone interview. “And I feel I can do loads on this spot if the voters will permit me.”
In an announcement, Kentucky Home Speaker David Osborne mentioned Bratcher might be missed, praising his colleague’s work on such points as juvenile justice and public training.
“Whereas Kevin Bratcher has by no means been one to hunt the highlight or consideration, unquestionably his legislative profession has been some of the consequential and constructive for Louisville and Jefferson County,” Osborne mentioned.
Bratcher helped spearhead measures designed to strengthen faculty security and to enhance the state’s troubled juvenile justice system. The Home committee he leads might garner appreciable consideration throughout subsequent 12 months’s session if it takes up a attainable constitutional modification coping with faculty selection points.
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Bratcher’s announcement comes as Republicans and Democrats recruit candidates for subsequent 12 months’s legislative races. The GOP holds supermajorities in each legislative chambers.
One other lawmaker who introduced not too long ago that he will not search reelection subsequent 12 months is Republican state Rep. Danny Bentley, who represents a district in northeastern Kentucky. Bentley was a driving power behind laws meant to assist shore up the funds of rural hospitals and to make insulin extra reasonably priced for sufferers. He chairs the Home funds subcommittee on Well being and Household Providers.
