Kentucky 2018 Election Results: McGrath Loses As GOP Wins 5 Seats

LOUISVILLE, KY — Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr has held off surging Democratic challenger Amy McGrath in the most competitive race of the night. Republicans won five of the six races in the state's House races, according to The New York Times, with the biggest win coming from Barr, who was expected to be in a toss-up.

The massive win retains Republicans 5-1 control over the state's House seats and comes after longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers easily won the 5th District seat, easily defeating Democrat Kenneth Stepp.

Fellow incumbent Republican Reps. James Comer, Brett Guthrie and Thomas Massie were declared winners earlier in the night.

Voters flooded the polls Tuesday and early turnout numbers were pretty strong. Long lines were seen at multiple polling locations, including in Fern Creek and western Louisville, which aligned with what people reported on social media. Twitter voters said they had to wait in long lines, including one woman who said her wait was longer than any other in the past 15 years.

Some problems were reported, with some polling locations opening late and some voting machines needing to be replaced, the Courier-Journal reported. The state Attorney General’s Office reportedly received more than 170 complaints by Tuesday afternoon, including accusations of improper electioneering and voting machine problems.

The 2018 midterm election was a referendum on the unorthodox presidency of President Donald Trump — and the results will shape American politics for years to come.

Check here for full election results as they come in.

House

District 1

Comer won re-election against Democratic challenger Paul Walker, an English professor at Murray State University and former firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. Comer was expected to easily win the western Kentucky district, which has gone red by a wide margin in the past two presidential elections and was rated as one of the safest GOP districts in the country. FiveThirtyEight gave Comer a 99.9 percent chance of winning.

District 2

The incumbent Republican Guthrie, who has held the seat since 2008, defeated Democratic challenger Hank Linderman, a musician and recording engineer. This was not exactly a surprise, either. The deep-red district, located in the western and central part of the state, went Republican by a wide margin the past two presidential elections and FiveThirtyEight gave Guthrie a 99.9 percent chance to win.

District 3

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, who has held the seat since 2006, defeated Republican challenger Vickie Glisson. Glisson's resume included health insurance lawyer, law professor at the University of Louisville and president and CEO of Nucleus: Kentucky's Innovation Center, not to mention secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

But even with her lengthy resume, Glisson was expected to lose Tuesday. The district leans left, voting for Democrats in the past two presidential elections. FiveThirtyEight gave Yarmuth a 99.9 percent chance of winning.

District 4

Massie, the incumbent Republican who has held the seat since 2012, defeated Democratic challenger Seth Hall in the heavily Republican northern Kentucky district. Hall's resume included national director of 1-800 Medicare with Anthem, vice president of information technology at MedAssist, and director of pharmacy at The Rawlings Group, according to Ballotpedia.

Hall faced long odds from the get-go. The district voted Republican by a wide margin in both of the last two presidential elections and it's considered one of the safest Republican seats in the country. FiveThirtyEight gave Massie a 99.9 percent chance of winning.

District 5

The incumbent Republican Rogers, who has been in the seat for nearly four decades, easily defeated Democrat Kenneth Stepp, a U.S. Navy veteran who worked as an attorney and made an unsuccessful bid for family court judge two years ago. Stepp wasn't expected to compete for the deep-red seat, with the district going red by a large margin in both of the last two presidential elections. FiveThirtyEight gave Rogers a 99.9 percent chance of winning.

District 6

Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who has held the seat since 2013 and won re-election two years ago by more than 20 points, defeated Democratic challenger Amy McGrath, a former Marine Corps pilot. The district, located in the central part of the state, leans Republican and went red in both of the past two presidential elections.

McGrath gave Barr a run for his money though and Democrats were opptimistic she could flip the seat from red to blue. Her campaign raised over $2 million more than Barr and she trailed by a single point in a September poll, according to RealClearPolitics. FiveThirtyEight, meanwhile, called the race a toss-up and gave McGrath a 52 percent chance to win.

On The Issues

Barr has said he is pro-life and opposed funding for abortions. He voted for the GOP tax cuts in 2017, supported Trumpcare, which would've partially repealed Obamacare, and backed the repeal of the individual mandate for health insurance.

McGrath has indicated she's pro-choice and believes basic health care is a "fundamental right" that ought to be guaranteed for Americans. She also opposed legislation that would've repealed Obamacare, supports gun control legislation and opposed the GOP tax cuts.

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