{
 "topic": "senate",
 "site": "electiondata.dev",
 "place": {
  "id": "us-ky",
  "name": "Kentucky",
  "level": "us-state",
  "parent": "usa",
  "path": "us/ky",
  "slug": "ky",
  "state": "ky",
  "state_name": "Kentucky",
  "state_id": "us-ky"
 },
 "question": "How did Kentucky vote for the Senate?",
 "answer": {
  "verdict": "Rand Paul (Republican) won by 23.6 points",
  "value": 23.6,
  "unit": " pts",
  "digits": 1,
  "label": "Senate, 2022: winner's margin",
  "lines": [
   "Rand Paul (Republican) 61.8%, Charles Booker (Democrat) 38.2%",
   "1,477,830 votes for Senate candidates"
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2022",
 "as_of_label": "2022",
 "charts": [
  {
   "id": "senate-margin",
   "title": "Every regular Senate election in Kentucky since 1978",
   "description": "16 regular elections; Democrats were ahead in 4 and Republicans in 12.",
   "indicator": "Democratic candidate's share of Senate votes minus the Republican's, points (regular elections; special elections are in the table)",
   "subtitle": "Democratic share minus Republican share, in points. Above the line: the Democrat got more votes.",
   "x": {
    "kind": "year"
   },
   "y": {
    "digits": 1,
    "unit": " pts",
    "format": "party-margin"
   },
   "layers": [
    {
     "type": "bars",
     "name": "Margin",
     "base": 0,
     "points": [
      [
       1978,
       24.112,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1980,
       30.252,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1984,
       -0.408,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1986,
       48.79,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1990,
       -4.374,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1992,
       27.071,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1996,
       -12.607,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1998,
       -0.591,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2002,
       -29.35,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2004,
       -1.314,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2008,
       -5.932,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2010,
       -11.479,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2014,
       -15.467,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2016,
       -14.548,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2020,
       -19.534,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2022,
       -23.617,
       "rep"
      ]
     ],
     "legend": [
      {
       "label": "Democrat ahead",
       "cls": "dem"
      },
      {
       "label": "Republican ahead",
       "cls": "rep"
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Statewide totals say nothing about who voted or why.",
  "Candidates with a party's support under another name (Minnesota's DFL, New York's fusion lines) are counted with that party, as the MIT data's simplified party does; independents stay independents."
 ],
 "method": "Each candidate's votes are summed over every ballot line; blank, over- and under-votes are left out. The margin is the winner's share of the votes minus the runner-up's. A runoff, where held, is the result.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6",
   "url": "https://electiondata.dev/",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  },
  {
   "name": "MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. Senate statewide 1976-2024",
   "url": "https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PEJ5QU",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  }
 ],
 "check": {
  "races": [
   {
    "year": 1978,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 476783,
    "votes": {
     "Walter D. Huddleston": 290730,
     "Louie Guenthner Jr.": 175766,
     "Anthony Albert Mccord": 10244
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1980,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1106920,
    "votes": {
     "Wendell H. Ford": 720891,
     "Mary Louise Foust": 386029
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1984,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1292407,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 644990,
     "Walter (dee) Huddleston": 639721,
     "Dave Welters": 7696
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1986,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 677280,
    "votes": {
     "Wendell H. Ford": 503775,
     "Jackson M. Andrews": 173330
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1990,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 916010,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 478034,
     "G. Harvey Sloane": 437976
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1992,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1330858,
    "votes": {
     "Wendell H. Ford": 836888,
     "David L. Williams": 476604,
     "James Ridenour": 17366
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1996,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1307046,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 724794,
     "Steven L. Beshear": 560012,
     "Dennis L. Lacy": 8595,
     "Patricia Jo Metten": 8344,
     "Mac Mcelroy": 5284
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1998,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1145414,
    "votes": {
     "Jim Bunning": 569817,
     "Scotty Baesler": 563051,
     "Charles R. Arbegust": 12546
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2002,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1131313,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 731679,
     "Lois Combs Weinberg": 399634
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2004,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1724362,
    "votes": {
     "Jim Bunning": 873507,
     "Daniel Mongiardo": 850855
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2008,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1800821,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 953816,
     "Bruce Lunsford": 847005
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2010,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1356096,
    "votes": {
     "Rand Paul": 755706,
     "Jack Conway": 600052
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1435868,
    "votes": {
     "Mich Mcconnell": 806787,
     "Alison Lundergan Grimes": 584698,
     "David M. Patterson": 44240
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2016,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1903465,
    "votes": {
     "Rand Paul": 1090177,
     "Jim Gray": 813246
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2135057,
    "votes": {
     "Mitch Mcconnell": 1233315,
     "Amy Mcgrath": 816257,
     "Brad Barron": 85386
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2022,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1477830,
    "votes": {
     "Rand Paul": 913326,
     "Charles Booker": 564311
    }
   }
  ],
  "dataset": "senate-results",
  "version": "2026-10-25.247421eda6"
 },
 "table": {
  "title": "Every Senate race since 1976",
  "columns": [
   "Race",
   "Winner",
   "Runner-up",
   "Margin",
   "Votes"
  ],
  "num": [
   3,
   4
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "2022",
    "Rand Paul (R) 61.8%",
    "Charles Booker (D) 38.2%",
    "23.6 pts",
    "1,477,830"
   ],
   [
    "2020",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 57.8%",
    "Amy Mcgrath (D) 38.2%",
    "19.5 pts",
    "2,135,057"
   ],
   [
    "2016",
    "Rand Paul (R) 57.3%",
    "Jim Gray (D) 42.7%",
    "14.5 pts",
    "1,903,465"
   ],
   [
    "2014",
    "Mich Mcconnell (R) 56.2%",
    "Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) 40.7%",
    "15.5 pts",
    "1,435,868"
   ],
   [
    "2010",
    "Rand Paul (R) 55.7%",
    "Jack Conway (D) 44.2%",
    "11.5 pts",
    "1,356,096"
   ],
   [
    "2008",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 53.0%",
    "Bruce Lunsford (D) 47.0%",
    "5.9 pts",
    "1,800,821"
   ],
   [
    "2004",
    "Jim Bunning (R) 50.7%",
    "Daniel Mongiardo (D) 49.3%",
    "1.3 pts",
    "1,724,362"
   ],
   [
    "2002",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 64.7%",
    "Lois Combs Weinberg (D) 35.3%",
    "29.4 pts",
    "1,131,313"
   ],
   [
    "1998",
    "Jim Bunning (R) 49.7%",
    "Scotty Baesler (D) 49.2%",
    "0.6 pts",
    "1,145,414"
   ],
   [
    "1996",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 55.5%",
    "Steven L. Beshear (D) 42.8%",
    "12.6 pts",
    "1,307,046"
   ],
   [
    "1992",
    "Wendell H. Ford (D) 62.9%",
    "David L. Williams (R) 35.8%",
    "27.1 pts",
    "1,330,858"
   ],
   [
    "1990",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 52.2%",
    "G. Harvey Sloane (D) 47.8%",
    "4.4 pts",
    "916,010"
   ],
   [
    "1986",
    "Wendell H. Ford (D) 74.4%",
    "Jackson M. Andrews (R) 25.6%",
    "48.8 pts",
    "677,280"
   ],
   [
    "1984",
    "Mitch Mcconnell (R) 49.9%",
    "Walter (dee) Huddleston (D) 49.5%",
    "0.4 pts",
    "1,292,407"
   ],
   [
    "1980",
    "Wendell H. Ford (D) 65.1%",
    "Mary Louise Foust (R) 34.9%",
    "30.3 pts",
    "1,106,920"
   ],
   [
    "1978",
    "Walter D. Huddleston (D) 61.0%",
    "Louie Guenthner Jr. (R) 36.9%",
    "24.1 pts",
    "476,783"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "api": {
  "now": "/data/places/us-ky/senate.json",
  "source": "https://api.electiondata.dev/v1/senate-results/download/senate-results.csv",
  "source_label": "Every Senate race, every state, from electiondata.dev (live, no key)"
 },
 "generated_at": "2026-10-26T20:05:12+00:00"
}