Latest news with #EasternKentucky
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Eastern Kentucky Democrat rails against Medicaid cuts in launch for Congress bid
Ned Pillersdorf thinks a 'political earthquake' just struck Eastern Kentucky. That's what the newly minted Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District said on the Fourth of July in Prestonsburg just one day after Congress passed a budget bill that will extend more than $4.5 trillion worth of tax cuts and is projected to result in about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid spending over the next 10 years. The 5th District is one of the poorest and most Medicaid-dependent districts in the country, and current Rep. Hal Rogers voted for the bill. But the 'earthquake' of a backlash would have to be truly devastating for Pillersdorf to get close in the 2026 election. Rogers has won almost all of his 23 general elections in landslide fashion. The last time a Democrat even got within single digits of him was 1992, when Pillersdorf himself came in second place for the Democratic nomination, and the Eastern Kentucky-centric district has grown more red since then. Pillersdorf's native Floyd County is a microcosm of the political headwinds he faces as a Democrat. Though proponents take heart in Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's 14-point win there in 2023, Republican President Donald Trump won the county by 59 points last year, and Rogers' margin was 57 points in 2022. And in most of the other counties in the district, Republicans ran up the score even more. The early gambit of the Pillersdorf campaign is that the district will revolt over the Medicaid issue and voters will appreciate his work in the legal and nonprofit spheres. Pillersdorf's stump speech largely covered those two topics, laser-focused on Medicaid when it came to policy. He told a crowd of around 100 people in Prestonsburg, across the street from his law office, Friday evening that 'they're clawing back our benefits.' 'Frankly, it is disgraceful. We are the second-poorest congressional district in the nation, and our congressman cast the deciding vote to rip away benefits from our vulnerable neighbors,' Pillersdorf said. Estimates from nonpartisan groups indicate many Americans will eventually lose Medicaid coverage, ranging from 12 million to 17 million, due to the changes in the bill which include a new work requirement, changes in how Medicaid providers are taxed and funding changes for states like Kentucky that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Dubbed by Trump the 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' the legislation is also expected to hit hospitals in lower-income areas like rural Appalachia, though some of that cost will be defrayed by a $50 billion rural health fund. The bill passed the House and the Senate each time by just one vote. In a statement, Rogers framed the cuts to Medicaid spending as 'protecting' the program for those who need it most in a press statement on his vote. 'With 4.8 million able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, who choose not to work, the bill enforces a 20-hour weekly work requirement for those individuals who do not have small kids. Without question, we are adding integrity and strength to Medicaid and SNAP assistance for those who need it most in the years ahead.' Rogers wrote. The political calculation behind the cuts in Medicaid spending, Pillersdorf said, is that the recipients won't cause them pain at the polls. 'Why are the Republicans doing this? Here's my analysis: They know the people on Medicaid, food stamps, and they have made the political calculation that they don't vote,' Pillersdorf said. Pillersdorf, 70, is a known figure in Eastern Kentucky. Perhaps most notably, he led an effort to recruit lawyers to represent people who faced losing Social Security disability benefits as a result of the biggest disability scam in U.S. history, the long-running, massive fraud perpetrated by Eric C. Conn. He also litigated on behalf of coal miners who went on strike at the Blackjewel mine site in Harlan County; ran the political campaigns of his wife, former Kentucky Supreme Court justice Janet Stumbo; helped found an animal shelter and chairs the board of a school for disadvantaged children. Pillersdorf noted Rogers was 'incredibly helpful' during the Conn affair, but his vote on the bill gave Pillersdorf the final push to jump in the race. Rogers' age, while not a pillar of the campaign, was also mentioned. Pillersdorf questioned the 87-year-old's effectiveness in a Congress that could potentially flip to Democratic control after the 2026 midterm elections, when he'd start his term at 89. 'By all accounts, the Democrats are going to take back the (U.S.) House. Who will be representing the Fifth Congressional District? What if it's a 91-year-old man in the minority party? He won't be able to do nothing to help us,' Pillersdorf said. Pillersdorf told the Herald-Leader after the rally that he will not be content with a 'moral victory' of tightening the margin between a Democrat like himself and Rogers, despite the U.S. Dean of the House winning his last four contested general elections by an average of more than 61 percentage points. He pointed out that Beshear overperformed in the district — losing by about 16 points compared to Trump's 59-point 2020 margin — in his successful 2023 reelection. 'I know we're red, and the Democratic brand is toxic here, but I think the deck has been reshuffled in politics. I could not have won last year, but I think I can win next year because of this political earthquake, firestorm, whatever you want to call it,' Pillersdorf said. 'People in the past lost their election over the Affordable Care Act, some lost their election because of the Iraq War. I think this is 10 times bigger than both of them combined here,' he added.' He did not share how much he expected Beshear to help him in the race but said that the governor was the first person to pledge a contribution to his campaign. Mickey McCoy, a Martin County activist present for the rally, said Pillersdorf's brand will help. 'Ned is known as an honest lawyer, which is almost oxymoronic. And people know him. They call him 'Ned,' they don't call him counselor or sir,' McCoy said. McClain Dyer, a 22-year-old vice chair of the Carter County Democratic Party, argued a Pillersdorf victory is possible if the campaign can find a way to get its Medicaid message out ahead of conservative social issues like abortion or transgender women's participation in athletics. 'These big social issues that Republicans talk about, these 'woke' issues, those aren't things that are affecting everyday rural Kentuckians, but that's the only thing they hear about because Republicans are being louder than we are in this election cycle,' Dyer said. 'We have to be louder about the things that rural Kentuckians know that they need, like Medicaid.' Dyer suggested that the race could be within reach if Pillersdorf and his team find a way to flood social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Not everyone shares that assessment. Greg Stumbo a Prestonsburg native and former Democratic speaker of the house and attorney general said Pillersdorf is a legitimate candidate and deserves plaudits for his contributions to the community, agreeing also with his criticisms of the Trump-backed bill. He doesn't see much of a path to victory for him, though. 'I credit Ned for running, but I would be very surprised for the district to change. Getting the old Democrats back is a huge challenge. There's no sign to me that it will happen. They're pretty much Trump people.' Stumbo added that he didn't think concerns over Rogers' advanced age would matter much. He mentioned the advanced age of the district — at 41.6, its median age is the oldest in the state — and their familiarity with Rogers' brand. The Republican Party of Kentucky's take is more definitive. 'On behalf of the Republican Party of Kentucky, I want to congratulate Ned on his decision to join the long list of political lightweights the Kentucky Democratic Party has recruited to serve as a warm body and political martyr in the 5th District,' party spokesperson Andy Westberry said in a statement to the Herald-Leader.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Clerk who denied same-sex marriage licenses in 2015 is still fighting Supreme Court's ruling
The Kentucky county clerk who became known around the world for her opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage is still arguing in court that it should be overturned. Kim Davis became a cultural lightning rod 10 years ago, bringing national media and conservative religious leaders to eastern Kentucky as she continued for weeks to deny the licenses. She later met Pope Francis in Rome and was parodied on 'Saturday Night Live.' Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples Davis began denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. Videos of a same-sex couple arguing with Davis in the clerk's office over their denial of a license drew national attention to her office. She defied court orders to issue the licenses until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015. Davis was released after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The Kentucky Legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses. Davis cited her Christian faith Davis said her faith forbade her from what she saw as an endorsement of same-sex marriage. Faith leaders and conservative political leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and then-Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin rallied to her cause. After her release from jail, Davis addressed the media, saying that issuing same-sex marriage licenses 'would be conflicting with God's definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This would be an act of disobedience to my God.' Davis declined a request for an interview from The Associated Press for this story. A man who was denied a license ran for her office In 2018, one of the men who had confronted Davis over her defiance ran for her office. David Ermold said he believed people in Rowan County were sick of Davis and wanted to move on. When he went to file his papers for the Democratic primary, Davis, a Republican, was there in her capacity as clerk to sign him up. Sitting across a desk from each other, the cordial meeting contrasted the first time they met three years earlier. Both candidates lost; Ermold in the primary and Davis in the general election. She has not returned to politics. 10 years later, Davis wants the Supreme Court to reconsider same-sex marriage Davis' lawyers are attempting again to get her case before the Supreme Court, after the high court declined to hear an appeal from her in 2020. A federal judge has ordered Davis to pay a total of $360,000 in damages and attorney fees to Ermold and his partner. Davis lost a bid in March to have her appeal of that ruling heard by a federal appeals court, but she will appeal again to the Supreme Court. Her attorney, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel, said the goal is affirm Davis' constitutional rights and 'overturn Obergefell.'
Associated Press
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Clerk who denied same-sex marriage licenses in 2015 is still fighting Supreme Court's ruling
The Kentucky county clerk who became known around the world for her opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage is still arguing in court that it should be overturned. Kim Davis became a cultural lightning rod 10 years ago, bringing national media and conservative religious leaders to eastern Kentucky as she continued for weeks to deny the licenses. She later met Pope Francis in Rome and was parodied on 'Saturday Night Live.' Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples Davis began denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. Videos of a same-sex couple arguing with Davis in the clerk's office over their denial of a license drew national attention to her office. She defied court orders to issue the licenses until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015. Davis was released after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The Kentucky Legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses. Davis cited her Christian faith Davis said her faith forbade her from what she saw as an endorsement of same-sex marriage. Faith leaders and conservative political leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and then-Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin rallied to her cause. After her release from jail, Davis addressed the media, saying that issuing same-sex marriage licenses 'would be conflicting with God's definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This would be an act of disobedience to my God.' Davis declined a request for an interview from The Associated Press for this story. A man who was denied a license ran for her officeIn 2018, one of the men who had confronted Davis over her defiance ran for her office. David Ermold said he believed people in Rowan County were sick of Davis and wanted to move on. When he went to file his papers for the Democratic primary, Davis, a Republican, was there in her capacity as clerk to sign him up. Sitting across a desk from each other, the cordial meeting contrasted the first time they met three years earlier. Both candidates lost; Ermold in the primary and Davis in the general election. She has not returned to politics. 10 years later, Davis wants the Supreme Court to reconsider same-sex marriageDavis' lawyers are attempting again to get her case before the Supreme Court, after the high court declined to hear an appeal from her in 2020. A federal judge has ordered Davis to pay a total of $360,000 in damages and attorney fees to Ermold and his partner. Davis lost a bid in March to have her appeal of that ruling heard by a federal appeals court, but she will appeal again to the Supreme Court. Her attorney, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel, said the goal is affirm Davis' constitutional rights and 'overturn Obergefell.'
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Administration seeks to rescind $500 million for Eastern Kentucky prison
Federal authorities have asked Congress to cancel $500 million designated to build another large prison in Eastern Kentucky. The U.S. Department of Justice included a request to rescind the funding in its budget request for the upcoming federal fiscal year, which starts in October. The proposed Letcher County prison has been a source of controversy, lauded by supporters as an economic boon for a county hit hard by job losses in the coal industry but decried by opponents as an unnecessary boondoggle. This is not the first time officials have tried to scotch money for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) project. The administration of President Donald J. Trump tried to cancel it in his first term, and the administration of President Joe Biden did the same. Now Trump's administration is trying again. However, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican who represents Eastern and Southern Kentucky and has been a key supporter of the project, has been able to beat back several prior efforts to cancel the funding. Rogers said he's ready to defend the project again. 'The people of Letcher County have invested nearly 20 years of planning and preparation for a new federal prison to bring more than 300 much-needed jobs to our region,' Rogers said in a statement to the Herald-Leader. 'As a senior appropriator, I have helped secure more than half a billion dollars in federal funding that remain available exclusively for this facility, which will help address BOP's need for modernized facilities. 'The proposed prison has surpassed multiple environmental studies and every ounce of red tape that has been doled out. Years of investments have been made in good faith to support this project at the federal, state and local levels, and I will continue working to see it to completion.' There are four federal prisons in the eastern end of the state, in McCreary, Martin, Clay and Boyd counties. The Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Justice Department, approved building the prison last October after years of study. The agency chose a site at Roxana, about 10 miles from Whitesburg, that was surface mined decades ago, leaving a flat spot atop a steep hill. Developing the site would require extensive excavation and compacting, driving the estimated cost of the project to more than $500 million. The prison would house more than 1,100 prisoners in the main medium-security section and about 250 others in an adjacent minimum-security camp, according to an environmental assessment by the BOP. The prison is projected to employ 300 to 350 people, though in the early years many of those employees would transfer in from other facilities. Those jobs are a key reason many residents support the project. In addition to rescinding $500 million from the Letcher County project, the budget request from the Department of Justice includes rescinding $50 million from a prison project in Kansas and $60 million for a law enforcement training center. Opponents have raised a number of complaints about the proposed Letcher County prison, including that it would perpetuate high rates of incarceration; that it could hinder efforts to attract other kinds of jobs to the county; and that it would damage the environment. 'This prison would be very harmful if built. It would harm my family, our history, our use of the land and our way of life,' Wayne Whitaker, a resident of Letcher County, said Friday in a release from an organization called Building Community, Not Prisons. 'It would also harm the future of Letcher County as a tourist, educational, and recreational destination.' Opponents of the prison bought a parcel of land at the site to try to block the project.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can this two-party system be saved?
Sen. Robin Webb, a longtime state lawmaker from Carter County, is the latest mountain Democrat to defect to the Republican Party. (LRC Public Information photo) A great darkness has descended upon the Democratic Party of Eastern Kentucky. All but banished from the hills and hollows they call home, Democrats are searching for a path to political relevancy that seems increasingly narrow and increasingly unlikely. Despite what seem to be some positives for Democrats, state Sen. Robin Webb — one of the longest serving Democrats in the Kentucky legislature — changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. This comes even as popular Democrat Andy Beshear is serving his second term as governor amid talk that Eastern Kentuckian Rocky Adkins, a Beshear aide, could run to succeed him. Meanwhile, a bonafide Democratic challenger, Prestonsburg attorney Ned Pillersdorf, is considering a run against Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers in the 5th Congressional District. Webb is simply the latest in a long line of prominent Appalachian Democrats who have decided to join the swelling ranks of the Republican Party of Kentucky. Most of these conversions have been explained as a product of the Democratic Party no longer representing the values of the politician in question. More cynical political observers ascribe this mass exodus from the region's ancestral party to simple self-preservation: long time politicians fearful of losing their preciously held jobs at the very heart of Trump country. Regardless of the reasons, these now common party switches are not a positive sign for the Democratic Party. Nor are they the only evidence that Appalachian Democrats should be worried. Despite Beshear's relative success across Eastern Kentucky in the last gubernatorial election and the mounting number of enthusiastic liberal activists in the region, Democrats have failed to make significant headway of any kind in the region. A reality made all the more stark by Elliot County, Kentucky, breaking its 144 year support for the Democratic Party in the 2016 election for president. After 2024, an outside observer cannot help but conclude that all the fervor of local activities and all the efforts of a relatively popular governor do nothing to boost the chances of the Democratic Party in the Kentucky mountains. So is all hope for the Democratic Party lost in Appalachia? Is there simply no immediate future left for the party of Rocky Adkins in his native region? The short answer is 'quite possibly.' Yet, as is often the case, the long answer is both more complex and more truthful. The long answer is that the situation is bad for Eastern Kentucky Democrats. Nor is any attempt to sugarcoat this fact with hopeful news coverage and opinion pieces likely to improve circumstances. To solve a problem requires first a frank admission of the facts as they are and not as anyone may wish them to be. From these hard realities, a solution may emerge and a path to two-party competition in the region becomes, if not likely, at least possible. First and foremost, Kentucky Democrats must admit that the average Appalachian voter does not trust the Democratic Party anymore. The brand has been greatly damaged and no blunder in the Trump administration is likely to provide a miracle realization among the populace that will change this fact. Voters in the region feel that the Democratic Party has abandoned them in favor of various ill fated social crusades that do little to better society and certainly have done little to solve the great troubles that plague the Appalachian mountains. As an obvious consequence of this, Appalachian Democrats simply must give up any and all attempts to appeal to voters through the methods and messages of the national Democratic Party. There should be no more attacks in Johnson County by the Kentucky Democratic Party chairman on Republican attempts to end deeply unpopular D.E.I. programs. Democratic officials should also acknowledge that abortion and LGBTQ issues are simply not the cross to die on in a largely conservative region. Nor should the party persist in its continued and constant veiled attacks upon a president whose popularity remains rock solid across the region. Instead, Democrats should focus on their historic strength in the region — the economy. They should offer solutions to the housing and jobs crises that face Eastern Kentucky. They should make 'putting Eastern Kentucky back to work' and other local issues the heart of their message. As Republicans tie themselves to the newly popular national party, they should break free from Harris and Schumer to develop a uniquely Appalachian brand of liberal economics. The social liberalism can be left to Louisville and Lexington. Second, Appalachian Democrats must face the reality of a changed Appalachia and party system. Union voters once formed the heart of the Democratic Party in the region. However, many of these voters feel that Democratic policies undercut their jobs and have hollowed out the unions. Whether this is true or not is beside the point; it is how voters feel and Democrats must acknowledge that older working class miners are unlikely to be the backbone of their party, though they should of course continue to angle for their support. Instead, Democrats should target those in the region who tend to be most skeptical of Trump and the policies of the newly constituted Republican party — public school teachers, small business owners, and the young. Though most of these groups have historically voted Republican, things are changing in this country and seizing upon this reality is to the advantage of Eastern Kentucky Democrats. All of this advice is not given to 'save' the state from the Republican Party or because I fear the Democrats are the only avenue to creating a better commonwealth. This advice is not even offered by someone who is currently a member of the Democratic Party. Instead, I offer this frank counsel because as a citizen and political scientist, I understand that both parties are strongest when they are faced with a formidable and influential opposition. Iron sharpens iron, and two party competition creates the best sort of policy. Kentucky is very close to losing this vital check on political authority — that is, unless rural Democrats step up their game. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
