Former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado marshalled troops of volunteers and politicians gathered in the Fayette County GOP headquarters, days before early, no-excuse voting began in Kentucky.
He asked the packed room to knock doors, make calls and rally their neighbors in the tightening race against Democratic former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo for the 6th Congressional District.
“I'm asking for your energy. We need votes. It's going to be a close election,” Alvarado said.
Democrats are expected to win control of the U.S. House this year as Republicans scramble to minimize losses. Voters will decide on Nov. 3 if that blue wave will trickle into the 6th Congressional District, which includes Lexington and stretches to Georgetown, Richmond and surrounding rural areas.
The district voted for President Donald Trump by 15 points in 2024, but the year before it voted by a 20 point margin for Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Though the 6th Congressional District may be Kentucky’s most purple, at the start of the year most election handicappers rated the race as solid red.
Alvarado is a doctor, former Kentucky state representative and most recently the former Tennessee health commissioner. He’s emphasized his desire to cut taxes and touted his credentials as a means to combat healthcare costs. Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor Dembo paints himself as an independent-minded Democrat who would root out corruption in Washington D.C. and oppose Trump administration policies he says have raised the cost of living for Americans.
The non-partisan Cooks Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball officially moved the race to a toss-up last week and Tuesday. The candidates both agree it’s going to be a close race.
“I'm glad that Cook and some of the other pundits in D.C. are finally waking up to the fact that this is going to be a bellwether,” said Democrat Zach Dembo on Saturday. “This is going to be one of the first races called [on election night], and when they show that we have brought change to this district, it's going to show that we are going to have an independent voice in Congress.”
Kentucky voters and volunteers weigh-in
Dozens of volunteers packed into the Fayette GOP headquarters Saturday, alongside candidates for local and state races, while a smaller group protested outside.
GOP volunteer Kelly Hardeman said she’s drawn to Trump's Republican party because of what she described as a return to patriotism. She wore her “Trump was right about everything!” hat and wore both stickers for Alvarado and Andy Barr, who is now running for U.S. Senate.
“I believe it's going to be close, but I do believe he's going to win,” Hardeman said. “I really do feel like his heart is there for all the Kentuckians out there to help fix the policies.”
Harry Van Epps, another rallygoer, said he thinks people have a Biblical duty to get out and vote. He said if Kentuckians don’t vote red, they’ll be calling each other “comrade,” an apparent jab at the rise of Democratic Socialism.
“They want to open the borders and let all these in,” Van Epps said. “People have no idea how much money, tax dollars have been spent on English as a second language.”
Alvarado told volunteers he needed their help to spread his message, saying Dembo would be “dangerous” for Kentucky and saying he would be “a rubber stamp for the socialists and for the left.” Alvarado particularly criticizes Dembo for not supporting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which extended tax cuts while slashing Medicaid and food assistance funding.
“This guy believes in higher taxes. He talks about it. He says, ‘No, I don't support that. I want to take a little piece out of the bill,’” Alvarado told supporters. “You either get to vote for a bill or you don't get to vote for a bill. He said he would have voted against it [and] would have raised all of our taxes.”
Throughout the rally, every time someone opened the front door, the sound of steady drumbeats drifted in and the occasional chant from protesters outside. About a dozen people with Peaceful Bluegrass Resistance stood just outside the GOP headquarters, shouting at anyone who attended the rally and lifting signs to passing cars.
“I retired, and I wanted to go sit on a beach, but I chose to follow my oath as a veteran and continue to defend the Constitution against foreign enemies, foreign and domestic,” said protester Ken Beitler. “And he’s an enemy of the Constitution.”
Later the same day at his Lexington headquarters, Dembo told a room of volunteers there’s no substitute for face to face conversations. He’d spent the first part of the day knocking doors in Winchester with Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton, a Democrat and fellow veteran.
Dembo made a dig at his opponent who was unable to explain how grocery prices affected his family at their debate a few nights previous because his wife does the shopping.
“This is not about Democrat versus Republican,” Dembo told volunteers. “It's about who is going to stand up and be an independent fighter for us versus who is too rich and well off to even set foot in the grocery store himself and have a sense of what we are all suffering through.”
Irene Gooding is volunteering with the campaign, knocking doors. Gooding says she used to be an independent but she considers herself a Democrat now.
She says she’s most bothered by corruption and self-enrichment she sees in the Trump White House, but for a lot of people its prices and healthcare. She described knocking on a woman’s door who was worried about those issues, but said she would probably be okay herself.
“Which is not the answer I want, because I might be okay too, no matter who wins. I might really be okay, but that doesn't mean everybody is,” Gooding said.
Later that day, Dembo joined the president End Citizens United, a political action committee trying to elect candidates in favor of campaign-finance reform, for a town hall. He called for major reforms to get money out of politics and force transparency across campaign finance. When asked about the dark money that has supported his own election, Dembo says he wants an end to all of it.
“I'm the only candidate in the race who has proposed this sort of campaign finance reform, and I think I'm the only candidate in the race who wants to change having bought and sold politicians,” Dembo said.
Independent PACs bankrolled by billionaires and dark money groups have spent more than $10 million on both Dembo and Alvarado, and that doesn’t even include candidate spending. Millions in advertising is dominating screens across the central Kentucky district and will continue to do so until Election Day, Nov. 3.
