With most of the state's polling places reporting, there will likely be no upsets in Kentucky's primary. However, this comes without results from the commonwealth's two largest counties — Jefferson and Fayette — home to Louisville and Lexington. The two counties announced Tuesday that no unofficial results will be released until June 30.
In the Senate race, incumbent Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won his eight-way primary with little resistance, but the democratic primary is still contested.
With 54% of polls reporting, Amy McGrath leads Charles Booker by just over 8%. This looks promising for McGrath, but Booker — a progressive — expects his strongest support from his hometown Louisville. McGrath spent little effort on the primary race, but Booker gained momentum in the final two weeks of the campaign, leading to a closer contest than originally expected.
For the Northern Kentucky House race, District 4, incumbent Thomas Massie defeated Covington lawyer Todd McMurtry with a significant margin of victory — over 88% of voters sided with Massie with 85% of precincts reporting. Massie and McMurtry traded accusations of racism and questioned each other's loyalties to President Donald Trump, but not even Trump's own attacks against Massie could topple him in this primary.
On the Democratic side, Dr. Alexandra Owensby is gathering a lead over Shanon Fabert in District 4. Owensby sells herself a pure moderate, only recently siding with the Democratic Party. Fabert, however, takes a more progressive angle. Owensby holds a 19% lead over Fabert with 85% of precincts reporting.
This uncertainty is partially due to Kentucky opening up mail-in voting to all eligible voters for the first time in its history. Gov. Andy Beshear encouraged voters to mail-in their ballots in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the commonwealth.
While many local races have been called already, it looks unlikely that the winner of the democratic Senate primary will be known until June 30, when Jefferson and Fayette counties release their poll results.