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Democrats Score Rare House Win in Ky.

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Former state attorney general Ben Chandler easily won the House seat of the man who beat him in last year's governor's race, and became the first Democrat since 1991 to win a Republican-held seat in a special election.

"I know what it's like to be on the other side and it feels pretty good to be on this side tonight," Chandler said in his victory speech Tuesday at a National Guard armory in Richmond. "It's been a wild ride for me and my family the last year and a half."

Chandler, scion of one of Kentucky's most prominent political families, defeated Republican Alice Forgy Kerr. He will fill the remainder of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's term in the central Kentucky district that includes Lexington and the state capital of Frankfort.

With all precincts reporting, Chandler had 84,545 votes, or 55 percent. Kerr had 65,774 votes or 43 percent.

The win leaves Republicans with a 228-205 majority in the House, with one vacancy and one independent.

Kerr, a state senator from Lexington, gathered with supporters at a Lexington hotel and said she called Chandler to congratulate him in the nation's first federal election of 2004.

"There are priorities to be accomplished and I will remain in the arena fighting for our common priorities," Kerr told supporters. "Our shared values are far too important to sit idly on the sidelines."

Chandler presented himself as a fiscal conservative in a district that is 60 percent Democrat by voter registration but tends to favor Republicans in federal elections.

Chandler enjoyed an advantage in name recognition because of his 12 years in state government - four as auditor, eight as attorney general - and because his grandfather, A.B. "Happy" Chandler, was twice elected governor, served in the U.S. Senate and was commissioner of baseball.

Kerr based her campaign in large part on her support of President Bush, who made a commercial for her campaign. House Speaker Dennis Hastert stumped for her, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., loaned top aides to run her campaign, and his political action committee gave her $10,000.

Some Democrats claimed the race in Bluegrass country, home to horse and tobacco farms, had national implications.

Kerr "hooked her fortunes to George Bush, and his fortunes took a nose dive," said Dale Emmons, a Democratic consultant from Richmond. "I think tonight is the opening shot of the November election."

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Chandler's victory "gives lie to the Republicans' favorite new talking point, that Democrats can't win in the South."

But state Republican Party Chairwoman Ellen Williams suggested Chandler's name recognition was the key factor. "His name was in people's minds, and that makes a big difference," she said.

Tom Reynolds, chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee, said Chandler's familiarity with voters and his campaign organization from the governor's race were too much for Kerr to overcome.

"It turns out 10 weeks just wasn't enough to get all the way there," Reynolds said in a statement.

The stakes were high for Chandler as he tried to make a quick comeback after a bruising defeat in November. Fletcher beat him by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

Chandler will have to win again in November to keep the job, and will be on the May primary ballot.

Another special election is scheduled for June 1 in South Dakota, where Republican Bill Janklow resigned from Congress after his conviction on a manslaughter charge stemming from a traffic accident.

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