About that time I went running with Marty Pollio
I have a point, I promise (kinda)
Hello, hello, welcome to The Gallery Pass — a platform I will be slightly weaponizing tonight to deliver a semi-unhinged, stream-of-consciousness style rant about Joe Creason Park. (Yes, and also the latest political news, please don’t exit the newsletter.)
BUT FIRST: Let’s start with some semi-big news: I’m about to turn 30. Can I get a yee-haw?
I, for one, have heard fantastic things about being in your 30s, so I’d like to celebrate by offering 30% an annual paid subscription to The Gallery Pass. (Think ~$49 vs. $70.)
The deal will run from literally right now to my birthday on June 23.
To lean into the big 3-0 energy, I’d love to hit 300 paid subscribers and 3,000 total subscribers by the end of my 20s. Both are lofty goals, but you can help by sharing this newsletter with your friends and foes, taking advantage of that annual subscription discount or signing up as a monthly paid subscriber.
We’ve got 39 days to make it happen, y’all.
Plz send in your mailbag questions!
Last newsletter, I said I’m very much interested in writing a mailbag-style newsletter in the near future and solicited your questions.
Fam, I love y’all, and you sent in so many responses, but most of the questions centered around the same few topics:
Hot takes on the 2027 Kentucky governor’s race
A bit of best dressed energy
And a whole lot of folks demanding the hottest of takes regarding the JCPS superintendent situation.
I’m working on the #KYGA25 best dressed list and fine-tuning thoughts on the governor’s race (but yes, I already posted a TikTok about it), so those will be coming soon.
I am holding off on any JCPS hot takes until after next Tuesday, when the two superintendent finalists will have two public speaking sessions. In a semi-rare move on my end, I would like to see these men speak in-person before I fully judge them.
But past all of that, I’d like more questions that are (respectfully) more unique so I can do a mailbag. Drop your questions in this survey!
Former House Minority Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson in 2024. (Photo courtesy: LRC Public Information)
She’s baaaaack
Our queen of close races, former state Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, is officially running for Congress.
This isn’t really a surprise — her name has been perhaps the most tossed around on the Dems side for the KY-06 seat, which covers Lexington and surrounding areas.
Historically, she tends to narrowly win her races — or, like what happened last fall, narrowly lose them.
She told the Herald-Leader, “I know how to win in a red seat.” But, as a few Republicans on Twitter pointed out, she also knows how to lose one.
Ky. GOP spokesperson Andy Westberry said she “must be a glutton for punishment.
“After getting rejected by voters in her own backyard, she’s now aiming higher—only to fall harder. Her entry into this race isn’t a serious campaign; it’s a one-way ticket to political career-ending humiliation,” he continued.
Westberry also noted basically her former state House district isn’t the entire 6th Congressional District, which skews more red. Or, as he put it, “rock-solid Republican ground where liberal pipe dreams go to die.”
Currently, she’s facing GOP Rep. Ryan Dotson, who leans heavily into social culture wars issues in his political career and campaign.
And that’s kinda it right now in terms of confirmed candidates, but folks have until January to sign up to run. ICYMI: I rattled off basically every name I’ve heard who could run for this seat and the US Senate in 2026 in a recent newsletter:
Speaking of…
I’ve been cranking out TikToks recently and encourage y’all to jump in and join the conversations.
I dropped a few TikToks with a bit of a more updated look at both the Senate and KY-06 races (including some new insights from sources *side eye side eye go watch*).
A few other recent topics of note: Should Beshear go for the Senate or the White House, and a way early look at who could be running for Ky. governor in 2027. (You can also give your harsh feedback on my recent attempt at braids.)
The girlies remain beefin’
Auditor Allison Ball just sued the Beshear administration over a 2024 law that the two offices have been beefin’ over for, like, a year now.
I’m not going to pretend to know the nitty-gritty of the back-and-forth, but essentially, the legislature passed a law in 2024 to give foster care payments and resources to kinship care families — relief they need and deserve.
Beshear’s office, though, apparently has been like, um, y’all didn’t attach funding to this bill and therefore we won’t do it.
So, we’ll see what goes down now.
The students remain unpleased with y’all
ICYMI: The Kentucky Student Voice Team is suing the state, arguing they haven’t received the adequate and equitable public education they deserve under the state constitution.
That lawsuit was in court earlier this week, where lawyers for the state tried to convince a judge that *checks notes* students lack standing to sue regarding conditions in their schools.
Listen, I didn’t go to law school, but that — that seems like a stretch to me.
Stay tuned to see how the judge rules.
~graphic design is someone’s passion~
To the individual(s) who designed, printed and placed a sticker of Rep. Josh Calloway’s face with a large red cross out and the words “NAZI TRUMPS **** OFF!!” on a gas pump, he would like for you to know he has relocated it to his coffee mug that says “LEFTIST TEARS.”
Julie Cantwell, who ran against him last year, said it wasn’t her but requested one for her scrapbook.
If anyone has any intel on what is happening here, please contact me. I have … so many questions. Like, what is a “NAZI TRUMPS?”
The promised rant about pickleball and Pollio
Listen, I know this is a Kentucky policy and politics newsletter, but I just wanna talk briefly about some Louisville drama. And, in true Louisville fashion, it involves both pickleball and NIMBY energy.
So like there’s this park, right. Joe Creason Park. It is a park across from the Louisville Zoo, which if you haven’t been, I’ve literally reported that it is a great spot to break up with someone.
And so apparently the city wanted to build a ton of pickleball courts in the park. Not in the zoo, the park. Now, the Louisville Tennis Center or something along those lines is already there. So pickleball makes sense because balls and rackets and whatever.
But apparently, they wanted to make, like, the entire park just pickleball. Or at least that’s what people were making it sound like. Like, I literally haven’t seen such a large public outcry about a government proposal basically all year. And I cover politics. In KENTUCKY.
And basically everyone was pissed — just absolutely livid — about these proposed pickleball courts. Apparently, Louisville allegedly already has the highest rate of pickleball courts per capita, which is honestly one of the most on-brand things I could imagine for Louisville.
Two things: I’ve lived in Louisville for nearly 12 years. Not once have I met someone who wanted a single pickleball court.
And second, I’ve been to Joe Creason once. Because in, like, 2018, JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio thought it would be fun to start a JCPS-sanctioned running club, where everyone could hang out and go running with him once a month and talk to him about JCPS issues.
The inaugural meeting was supposed to be held at Iroquois Park, which as any runner in the area could tell you, is rather hilly. 2018 Olivia was a young 23-year-old baby, and while she had trained and completed a half marathon that year, she was not a fan of the running-hills-in-front-of-the-superintendent concept.
But something happened, and Pollio pulled me aside at a school board meeting to tell me they were moving things to Joe Creason. I was specifically told the terrain would be far more flat.
Fam, it still had hills. Also, Pollio admitted after the run he actually doesn’t like speaking to people while he runs, which negated much of the alleged logic behind the launch of the run club.
So, yeah, maybe I hold a personal grudge against Joe Creason Park and lowkey wanted to see it destroyed by pickleball courts; sue me for having a life.
But anywho, after like hundreds of people protested, Mayor Craig Greenberg was like OK fine, you can have your pickleball-free park, damn!
See kids, sometimes protesting en masse and public shaming your elected officials works!
Counting down to…
19 days until the 2025 interim session starts (June 3)
39 days until my birthday (June 23)
79 days until Fancy Farm 2025 (Aug. 2)
Where can you find me?
To send me ideas and tips: Use this survey. It is anonymous and you can fill it out as often as you’d like.
To support my work: Venmo. (Again, no pressure.)
Add me to your campaign and PR mailing lists: olivia.krauth@gmail.com.
OK, y’all, that’s it for now.
PS: I’m still on the hunt for freelance/contract/part-time work. Know of something? Want to chat? Interested in simply paying me for existing? I’m at olivia.krauth@gmail.com. Thank you!
Of course there’s no reason for a Democrat to run in KY-06, because it’s a red seat and they will lose. And therefore there’s no reason for Democrats to spend any money in KY, because everywhere but Louisville and a little bit of Lexington is hard red. And that’s how national Democrats got us into the mess we are in. The national party is currently worthless. Jess Piper in Missouri is singing it loud and proud. If there are no Democrats on the ballot in the middle of the country, the worst parts of the right get to run unopposed and pretend that everyone agrees with them. So hats off the Cherlynn Stevenson and every other Democrat who’s out there to give the people a choice instead of one party rule.