Shelby County, Kentucky is a rural area located in the central part of the state. It is known for its agriculture-based economy and peaceful atmosphere. Politically, Shelby County has long been a moderately conservative area, with Republicans dominating most local elections. Most recently, in 2020, Republican incumbent State Senate candidate Steve Payton won reelection with over 75% of the vote. Additionally, Republican incumbent Charles Booker was reelected to the House of Representatives with a solid majority. On the local level, Shelby County is served by several state representatives who are mostly conservative and have served in their respective roles for several terms. These representatives include Republicans Larry Clark and James Tipton as well as Democrat Jody Richards. All three have been highly active in their respective legislative chambers and are dedicated to representing the people of Shelby County at both the state and federal levels.
The political climate in Shelby County, KY is strongly conservative.
In Shelby County, KY 34.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Shelby county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.9% to 34.3%.
Shelby county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Shelby County, KY is strongly conservative.
Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Kentucky is strongly conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Shelby, Kentucky: R R R R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Shelby County, KY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 944 contributions totaling $95,735 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $101 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 357 contributions totaling $232,130 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $650 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)