Louisville District 37, Louisville’s south end, has a special election coming up soon to fill a vacant Kentucky state Senate seat. Early voting is December 11-13, and Election Day is December 16, 2025.
Governor Andy Beshear called for a special election to fill the seat after state senator David Yates (D) was selected to take on the role of Jefferson County Clerk. While the readily available information about the candidates may be somewhat limited and in want of specifics, we’ve assembled some information for you to have at your fingertips.
Gary Clemons is the Democratic nominee for the special election. An Army Reserves veteran and president of United Steelworkers Local 1693, Clemons has numerous endorsements from various Labor Unions, AFL-CIO Kentucky, C-FAIR, Planned Parenthood Advocates of KY, and Better Schools Kentucky. He was born and raised in South Louisville, and has gained experience in advocating for better policy in his role as Union President.
According to his website, he will continue to support policy and protections for workers, fair pay, and safe working conditions. He wants to work to expand access to and affordability of healthcare. One group in particular need of access to quality healthcare is our Veterans. As a US Army veteran, Clemons is acutely aware of how important it is to advocate for reintegration support and benefits, including mental health resources.
Clemons wants stronger schools, vocational training, and various career pathways open to students and young adults. His platform, however, does not specify how to accomplish this other than “investment in students and adult learners.”
Calvin Leach is a 35 y.o. former Army reservist, running as the Republican nominee for the special election in Louisville’s 37th District. In a February 2018 article titled “Why You Should Never Become Emotionally Invested in Millennial Females” and related 2025 comment, both written by Leach on the blog website Medium, since deleted the day after an interview with KY Public Radio, he had some pretty striking things to say about women. Leach referred to Millennial women as “promiscuous skanks,” and accuses “the majority of the female species” (directly after this, stating that it’s actually ALL women) of emotionally manipulating men for material gain. He refers to women disinterested in serious relationships as “young and dumb,” “on their way to crack whore oblivion,” “chicks,” “prick teases,” and “americunts.”
The article that follows is a misogynistic rant, reassuring his readers that men bring value to the relationship, and most definitely not women. He openly laments equal pay for women, stating they work less than men, despite the fact that as recently as 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.
In an interview with Kentucky Public Radio, he cited the “aesthetic appeal” of women, and chalked up women being handed jobs over men in the workforce strictly because a male hiring manager would prefer to look at women over men.
His platform highlights economic development, crime reduction, and education.
Leach’s economic development platform focuses on improving infrastructure, specifically expanding Louisville’s Muhammad International Ali airport to include a US Customs facility to clear international flights.
When it comes to reducing crime in Louisville, this has been a campaign focus of his since his failed 2024 run for office. At that time, he said he may be open to the National Guard being deployed in Louisville if necessary.
He espouses a passion for education, and is a strong advocate for school choice and increased security in every school. He also supports eliminating personal property tax, as such a large percentage of this tax goes toward funding “the dumpster fire that is known as JCPS.”
When it comes to the 2nd Amendment, he supports background checks prior to purchasing firearms.
When asked about adding sexual orientation and gender identity as a specially protected class in non-discrimination laws, he strongly disagreed, stating, “I don’t believe gender identity or sexual orientation is an inherent quality. I believe those are simply choices an individual makes.” He also strongly agrees that children should be “protected from harm, including gender ideology,” as stated by the survey question. He strongly disagrees that any taxpayer money should go toward healthcare for transition services for trans people. He believes that bathrooms, sports, and locker rooms should be segregated by sex assigned at birth, and strongly disagrees with the need for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. He supports parental rights to engage their trans child with conversion therapy. He supports marriage only between heterosexual couples.
He strongly disagrees with Critical Race Theory, which asserts that the institutions in our country are fundamentally racist.
In February 2024, he signed the pledge to support Congressional term limits. U.S. Term Limits is a leading non-partisan movement with a goal of getting 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal to apply term limits to Congress. When asked about his support for the Electoral College over a National Popular Vote, he responded, “The Electoral College is absolutely necessary, unless of course you want Chicago and LA to decide every election.”
He believes an abortion should be allowed in the case that the mother’s life is in danger, however stops short of supporting abortions for rape and incest. He strongly disagrees with any abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood (who also provides health screenings and STI treatment, access to birth control, and cancer screenings), receiving taxpayer money.
He states businesses should have the right to deny service to anyone at any time if providing said service would violate their moral or religious beliefs.
When asked under what, if any, circumstances a government, school, or employer should be allowed to require vaccinations, he states that none should have this authority, and goes as far as to refer to vaccinations as “so-called ‘vaccines.’”
He believes that stricter environmental protection laws serve to undermine U.S. energy independence.
The final candidate is Wendy Higdon, the Libertarian candidate for this special election. She founded the Louisville Tea Party in 2009. She works as a senior surgical tech, and works at a Level 1 Trauma Pediatric Hospital. She has been a foster parent for more than five years. Her platform identifies 2 main components: Education and Taxation.
She critiques JCPS for failing to serve the students and community, as its budget is out of control, its teachers underpaid, and classrooms and school districts having simply too many students. She proposes to cap student enrollment in each school district at 20,000, thereby necessitating breaking JCPS into smaller districts.
Part of her impetus for founding the Louisville Tea Party was to decrease taxes and balance the budget. If elected, she plans to propose legislation that eliminates all property taxes for all privately owned homes under $1 million.
Whichever candidate wins this election will hold onto the seat until it comes up for reelection in 2028.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.