Can Eastern Kentucky’s last two House Democrats hold on to their seats?

Angie Hatton gets the same question all the time.

“Why don’t you just switch if you have these social issues that you vote with Republicans on?’” said Hatton, who is running for re-election in Kentucky’s 94th district, which spans much of the state’s southwestern border with Virginia.

Hatton sports an endorsement from the National Rifle Association and last year was a featured speaker at a national pro-life rally. She’s also a Democrat.

Hatton and partymate Ashley Tackett Laferty are the last two House Democrats representing swaths of Eastern Kentucky – a historic stronghold for the party that has nearly eroded in recent elections. Both Hatton and Laferty face well-funded Republican challengers who both say they’re a better fit for the region’s “mountain values.”

“A lot of things that are happening at the state level, and nationally, totally go against the grain with everyone here, no matter what party you’re with,” said Jacob Justice, the Republican nominee in the 94th. “As far as having true representation with the way that people feel and think around here, I’m pushing for that more and right now the Democratic platform, there’s no way that that can be delivered.”

Justice, a dentist and city council member from Pike County’s Elkhorn City, said he’s working to represent a district that’s been “forgotten” by policymakers in Frankfort. Sending him to the state Capitol, he said, would insure that the district – which includes all of Letcher County plus sections of Pike and Harlan – would get a “seat at the table.”

Hatton, the House minority whip, said she remains a Democrat because there’s still plenty of issues she votes with her party on like “access to affordable healthcare, public schools over charter schools” and access to workers’ compensation benefits. Hatton said she feels that the district already has a seat at the table because of her position in leadership.

“I think that it’s really important that we have someone from Eastern Kentucky in leadership,” Hatton said. “Besides myself, there’s no one from either party in either the House or the Senate.”

Sizing up the 94th

Hatton, who hails from Whitesburg in Letcher County, gained entrance to the legislature with an election win in 2016 but hasn’t faced a challenger until this cycle. Thanks to redistricting, the 94th district Hatton won eight years ago is also quite different.

In 2016, the 94th included Hatton’s native Letcher County plus Pikeville. Redistricting took the town out of the district and shifted the 94th east toward the state border in Pike County and south into Harlan County. Although 57% of registered voters in the new district are Democrats, Donald Trump easily carried all three counties in the 2020 presidential election.

The current battleground is likely among the largest in the state geographically and both candidates said they were exhausted from the travel needed for the campaign.

“I can’t even count how many times that we’ve campaigned in all three counties in one day,” Justice said. “You’re talking about three-and-a-half, four-hour drive from one end to the other according to which roads you’re taking and hollers that you’re going in to see the people.”

Another Democratic incumbent in the 95th

Redistricting also changed the nearby 95th district, tacking on more Pike County land onto a district that includes the whole of Floyd County. The district’s voter registration is 67% Democrat.

Since both candidates are Floyd County natives, they’ve had to cross the county line to introduce themselves a bit more this cycle, said Brandon Spencer, the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Laferty.

Laferty is hoping to fend off a Republican challenger for the second-straight cycle.

“Since you’ve sent me to Frankfort my voting record proves that I stand strong for traditional mountain values,” Laferty said during a mid-October debate in Pike County. “I vote to protect life. I vote to strengthen education. I vote to protect our Second Amendment rights and I also vote to protect our working families.”

Spencer is a Floyd County entrepreneur who served in the legislature in 2006 and 2007. Spencer was a Democrat at the time. He said he felt he needed to be a Democrat to be competitive in Floyd County politics at the time and added that the party was “much more conservative” then. Spencer said he thinks he’s right for the district because of his business experience and being in the majority party could help spur his goals for increasing economic development in the region.

“The last few remaining Democrats in the east of the state here, they’re both party funded by the Democrats,” Spencer said. “They try to middle-align, but the truth is that they can’t distinguish themselves from the national party when they take money from the national party.”

State election finance records show that nearly half of the nearly $45,000 that Laferty’s campaign has raised has come from the Kentucky House Democratic Campaign Committee while a quarter of the funds have been gained through direct contributions from named donors.

Spencer has raised a nearly identical amount of money, the vast majority coming from $40,000 that he loaned to the campaign.

At the debate, Laferty urged voters to look at her record in Frankfort over her party affiliation, saying that she secured millions in funding for infrastructure and road projects in Floyd County.

“I’ve been registered as a Democrat since I was 18 years old,” Laferty said at the debate. “I come from a long line of hard-working Democrats. Eastern Kentucky Democrats. I know that my opponent has been sending out mailers trying to paint me with a brush from the Washington Democrats.”

‘Nationalizing the election’

Hatton also said she’s taken issue with efforts by her opponent to emphasize her party affiliation over her record in the legislature.

“I don’t think that this young man can beat me on my record or on my constituent service. What he’ll have to do is try and nationalize the election, which he’s doing,” Hatton said. “Everyday, we’re getting mailers with me photoshopped into a photo beside Joe Biden, as if I’ve ever met him, talking about inflation and all these national issues, which of course are not popular in the midterms anywhere in the country.”

Both Justice and the state Republican party have accused Hatton of donating to Biden’s campaign, an allegation she’s repeatedly denied. Hatton said in a video posted online that in October 2020 she purchased a video from the cast of the popular play, “Hamilton.” The producers of the video, she said, contributed $25 of the proceeds to the Biden fund.

Constituents only know the “hometown version” of Hatton, not the “Frankfort” and “national version,” Justice said. He added that the Biden campaign had made statements that he “was basically going to end all coal jobs and stop all fossil fuel production.”

“It’s totally against what our culture is, and coal mining and our energy industry,” Justice said. “And then eight months later, she gives money to that agenda. But she’s also saying I’m for coal. You know, there’s just some oxymorons that don’t make sense.”

When it comes to funding for his own campaign, Justice has pulled in nearly $90,000 and over half of the money has come courtesy of the House Republican Caucus Campaign Committee, state finance reports show.

Meanwhile Hatton has raised just over $65,000 and contributions from various political action committees or PACs make up about a third of the money. Hatton has received almost $18,000 in direct contributions from named donors.