Who here is ready for the 2025 legislative session?!

+ leadership news and social media changes.

Nov 18, 2024

Hey, y’all, happy Sunday! We’re gonna have a relatively quick newsletter because while everyone’s attention has been on Trump’s Cabinet picks and/or prepping their resumes to apply for DOGE, Kentucky politics has lowkey taken a bit of a breather.

But we are *checks notes* about 50 days away from Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session (yee-haw), so obvs we have some stuff to chat about.

Let us begin!

Where to find me (for) now

ATTN PLZ! I hate to make things all about me, but I feel like it is necessary to start with this.

I know the election has caused several folks to heavily rethink which social media platforms you use, and if you even want to be on social media at all. I get it, I totally do, and I want to be where y’all are, but I also can’t stay active on, like, 15 different platforms (especially not during session).

So, here are the platforms I’m going to try focusing on over the next few weeks:

Bluesky: It looks and feels v much like Twitter, except I have about 0.9% of the followers I’m used to. I’m going to treat this like how I’ve treated Twitter. Follow.
TikTok: This one’s been a focus recently and that’s not changing. Please join me there for Kentucky politics news, replies to your questions, perhaps some videos seeking fashion and/or gallery wall advice. Follow.
The Gallery Pass: Duh. Obvs, this is a great option for folks who have decided they’re 100% done with social media. Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who falls into that boat. Here’s a direct subscription link.

Yes, that’s correct, I am slowing down my award-winning Twitter account. I will still be there (for now), along with a handful of other social media accounts not listed above, but for now, the aforementioned three will be the go-to spots to find me.

Interim session winding down

This upcoming week is the last really heavy week of the interim session — you know, that time between June and December where lawmakers go to Frankfort but just chat about topics of interest instead of fighting over bills and rhetoric?

We’ll have a lot of meetings Monday and Tuesday, plus one on Friday, then nothing until Dec. 3. You can check out the full weekly calendar on the LRC website. (And you can get an overview of the scheduled meeting sprinkled throughout December here.)

One big meeting to watch for? Monday’s “Should We Break Up JCPS?” Task Force, which meets at 3 p.m. Auditor Allison Ball is scheduled to talk about school district audits, and the only publicly available document tied to her presentation is the infamous 300-page 2014 audit of JCPS from former Auditor Adam Edelen.

The only other thing on their agenda is simply “other business.” They’re supposed to have a list of recommendations about what to do about the district by Dec. 1, sooooo.

You’ll be able to watch this live on the LRC’s YouTube page.

FRANKFORT, Jan. 3 – Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, (left) gives an update on the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly’s agenda during a press conference with House Speaker David W. Osborne, R-Prospect. (Photo courtesy of LRC)

A few leadership changes ahead of 2025

Now that elections are over, lawmakers are prepping for the upcoming legislative session with some super fun ~leadership elections~ within their respective caucuses.

Leadership is selected behind closed doors, so unless someone publicly announces they’re vying for a seat or it gets leaked and someone else makes it public, all we really know is who ultimately wins.

House GOP

No changes for House Republican leadership, despite a few “liberty”-oriented lawmakers who publicly said they were running for a seat. Clearly, that didn’t work out for them. So, the House leadership will be:

Speaker of the House: David Osborne
Speaker Pro Tem: David Meade
Majority Floor Leader: Steven Rudy
Majority Caucus Chair: Suzanne Miles
Majority Whip: Jason Nemes

Senate GOP

We have a few fresh faces in leadership but they’re familiar names.

Sen. Max Wise will be the next Majority Floor Leader, aka the new Damon Thayer. TBD if he’ll bring the same snark level.

And Sen. Robby Mills, who I had heard was eyeing the floor leader spot, will be the new Majority Caucus Chair, replacing Sen. Julie Raque Adams.

Full list:

Senate President: Robert Stivers
Senate President Pro Tem: David Givens
Majority Floor Leader: Max Wise
Majority Caucus Chair: Robby Mills
Majority Whip: Mike Wilson

House Dems

Haven’t heard anything from the Dems’ side yet, but it is definitely something to watch. None of the current Dem leaders — Minority Floor Leader Derrick Graham, Minority Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson and Minority Whip Rachel Roberts — are returning for 2025. (Graham and Roberts didn’t run again and Stevenson lost her race.)

And there aren’t really a ton of options. Not saying they don’t have quality people to put in leadership, just saying they don’t have many people, period. They have 20 seats, and only 19 of those folks are actually allowed to attend caucus meetings (looking at you, Grossberg). And of those 19, five are rookies. So, we’ll see on that front.

Senate Dems

Also haven’t heard anything from this side of the Dems, but all three of their leaders are returning — Minority Floor Leader Gerald Neal, Minority Caucus Chair Reggie Thomas and Minority Whip David Yates — to their seats, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the lineup doesn’t change.

Speaking of new leadership

President-elect Donald Trump is slowly announcing his Cabinet picks and so far, as far as I’ve seen, no Kentucky folks have made the cut yet. YET.

I briefly saw some chatter that maybe Congressman Thomas Massie could become Secretary of Agriculture, so perhaps?

And Matt Gaetz’s nomination to be Attorney General appears to be lowkey DOA, so Trump’s probably gonna need a replacement. Would Daniel Cameron, who has actually been an Attorney General before and was endorsed by Trump during his 2023 gubernatorial run, potentially, you know, maybe? I’m just throwing out ideas here.

Also, does anyone have eyes on Kelly Craft rn? Anyone? What’s she up to? Is she interested in looking past how her former boss didn’t endorse her for governor and return to Canada? Incredibly, she would be one of the most qualified Trump appointments thus far.

Oh, and The Hill wrote a piece looking at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s influence/impact on the Cabinet picks, despite leaving leadership. GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer told them, “He’s not just another senator now. He has earned his influence for sure. … I don’t know that he wants to play that role, but if he does, he could do it better than anyone.”

Quick hits

A pregnant Kentuckian has sued over the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Houston, we have yet another major job announcement. Gov. Andy Beshear said a new battery plant coming to Shelby County is expected to create more than 1,500 jobs.
At the risk of perpetuating some kinda ridiculous drama, I’m just going to quickly note that a bunch of Louisville-area Republicans are pressuring JCPS Chief Equity Officer John Marshall to resign after one of his personal tweets drew the ire of Libs of TikTok, a far-right social media account/brand known for making life an absolute living hell for anyone they call out online.
- It was a big deal for, like, Wednesday and … that was about it. I’d be shocked if anything came out of it.

OK, y’all, I think that’s it. I’ll be back soon! toodles!