State reference

How does government work in Kentucky?

Kentucky’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

138

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

120

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky source
In effect since: 1891 source

What may surprise you here

Kentucky elects its governor in odd-numbered years, not in the November of a presidential or midterm year. source
Kentucky justices and judges at every level are elected on a nonpartisan basis. source

Legislature

Name: General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky source
Senate: seats: 38 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 100 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Section 29.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Ineligible for four years after a second consecutive term source
Next regular election: 2027 source
Lieutenant governor: joint ticket source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: nonpartisan election source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 120 source
Cities and towns: Kentucky’s municipal governments are cities, which state law classifies into groups that include first-class cities and home rule-class cities. source
Schools: Kentucky has no dependent public school systems, so its school districts are independent governments (2022 Census of Governments). source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: County boards of elections, chaired by the county clerk, under the direction of the State Board of Elections source
Primary type: closed source
Regular governor elections fall in: odd source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Andy Beshear Democratic, in office since December 10, 2019. source

US senators for Kentucky
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Mitch McConnell	Republican	Class 2	January 3, 1985	January 3, 2027
Rand Paul	Republican	Class 3	January 5, 2011	January 3, 2029

Members of the House for Kentucky
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	James Comer	Republican	November 14, 2016
District 2	Brett Guthrie	Republican	January 6, 2009
District 3	Morgan McGarvey	Democratic	January 3, 2023
District 4	Thomas Massie	Republican	November 13, 2012
District 5	Harold Rogers	Republican	January 5, 1981
District 6	Andy Barr	Republican	January 3, 2013

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 2