Rural Kentucky lawmaker announces switch to the GOP in the latest setback for Democrats

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A longtime state lawmaker announced Friday that she is switching parties, joining Republican supermajorities in the latest setback for Democrats trying to rebuild support across rural Kentucky.

State Sen. Robin Webb, who represents a four-county swath of northeastern Kentucky, revealed she will join the ranks of GOP lawmakers who control the flow of legislation in the state. Webb was one of the last rural Democrats in Kentucky’s legislature, and her defection leaves her ex-party more tethered to urban and suburban districts in a state with large stretches of rural territory controlled by the GOP.

Webb said in a news release that she felt increasingly disconnected from the Democratic Party as it continued to “lurch to the left.”

“It has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat,” Webb said. “I will continue to be a fearless advocate for rural Kentucky and for the residents of eastern Kentucky who have been so good to me and my family.”

Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said in a release that Webb chose to align with a political party attempting to fund tax breaks for the wealthy “off the backs of vulnerable” people.

It was a barbed reference to the multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package passed recently by U.S. House Republicans. To make up for some of the lost tax revenue, Republicans focused on changes to Medicaid and the food stamps program. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less people a month would have SNAP food stamps benefits with the proposed changes.

“If those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn’t a Democrat,” Elridge said.

Webb stressed that her core values have not changed.

“The only difference today is the letter next to my name,” she said.

Webb has compiled a personal and professional resume deeply ingrained in Kentucky culture. She’s a hunter, a horse enthusiast and a former coal miner who changed career paths to become an attorney.

Webb first joined the Kentucky House in 1999, when Democrats controlled the chamber. She spent a decade as a state representative before joining the GOP-led Senate in 2009. Republicans seized total control of the legislature in the 2016 election, when they rode Donald Trump’s coattails to win the Kentucky House. Republicans padded their legislative numbers in subsequent elections, giving them their overwhelming majorities.

Republicans attained that dominance by winning in rural districts previously held by Democrats, but Webb’s district had remained a blue dot on the map until Friday.

Her party switch leaves Democrats mostly devoid of a rural presence in the legislature. One exception is Democratic state Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty, who represents an Appalachian district.

The state’s two-term governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, won a number of rural counties and shrank GOP margins in others in his 2023 reelection. His popularity was built on the state’s robust economic growth during his tenure and his handling of disasters, from tornadoes and floods to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kentucky Democrats are trying to spark a rural comeback with a grassroots strategy, evidenced by the state party’s ongoing “listening tour” with stops in culturally conservative towns across the state.

State Republican Party Chairman Robert Benvenuti said Webb’s party switch reflects a broader political trend. In 2022, the GOP overtook the Democratic Party in statewide voter registration.

“Like countless other Kentuckians, she has recognized that the policies and objectives of today’s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,” he said.

Lawmakers will begin their 2026 session in early January, but Beshear has said he will likely call lawmakers back for a special session sometime this year to take up storm-relief funding. Parts of southeastern Kentucky were devastated by deadly tornadoes earlier in May, while other parts of the Bluegrass State were inundated by flooding in April.