KY House Special Elections End Up Not Resulting in GOP Majority

[Virginiá]

I'm also very disappointed that the statewide Democratic Party is putting so little effort into keeping the House. They keep claiming the House is their #1 priority, but there's a bunch of seats where they don't even have a candidate in November. If they won't even fight for the House, you can imagine how little effort they're putting into other offices.

Do they have strong candidates or the resources to mount major efforts in this respect? Maybe the seats you refer to are also not viable for one reason or another at this time (I'm just guessing things here).

The Kentucky Democratic party has been losing across the board since the 1994 Republican Revolution, and as seen of late, their fall from power looks to be nearing completion. They are 2 statewide offices and 5 seats from holding no majorities or major offices of anything in the state.

So my thoughts are that maybe they can't get the resources they would need because at best it would only slightly delay the inevitable - Short of a major shift in the KY electorate back to their party, which would require significant policy changes and increased prosperity at this point, no?

[Virginiá]

A lot of people here seem to underestimate just how militant the Kentucky GOP has become. And 'militant' is the correct word for it.

Perhaps. Do people there actually like Trump or feel they align more with Republicans, or is this shift in voting patterns because they just feel betrayed by Democrats but still prefer their agenda? Because if it's the latter, then there may be hope, but if not, then no. On at least some level, there shift is reminiscent of other states who realigned at various periods. Like, Delaware, where Republicans lost the Senate instead, but kept the House for a long time while losing literally everything else consistently until finally Obama came around and they were wiped out for good.

So there might not be anything they can do at this point.

[Virginiá]

AHA

Suck it Bevin!

[Virginiá]

Really did not expect to see Dems picking up Romney seats in KY in this environment!

Now the question is - Can they hold these seats this November? I don't have the numbers, but I'm sure turnout was extremely low for this special election, even by Kentucky levels.

[Virginiá]

Low turnout hurts Democrats.  

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. There are several reasons why low turnout hurts Democrats in most areas of America. Suffice to say, Kentucky used to be a place where the people most likely to show up at the polls actually voted for Democrats. However, those people have been slowly transitioning to the Republican party for years now.

Also worth noting is that the Kentucky GOP now seems more motivated to increase turnout for their own benefit, as they now believe higher turnout will help them more - At least given that some are trying to move state elections to presidential election years to increase turnout.