KENTUCKY — The 2025 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly starts in less than 50 days in Frankfort and while Republicans maintained their supermajorities in Kentucky’s Legislature during this past election cycle, there will be several new members starting new terms and leadership positions beginning in January.

One familiar name and face that won’t be back in the state capitol at the start of the year in a legislative capacity is Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, who joins this program for a discussion on a wide range of topics. The long-time state senator and majority floor Leader for 12 years announced in early Jan. 2024 that he had decided not to run for reelection this past year after serving 22 years in office. 

Thayer is Kentucky’s longest-serving Republican senate majority floor leader and was elected to that position by his Republican colleagues in Jan. 2013. He is the third Republican to serve as majority leader of the Kentucky State Senate. 

During this segment, Thayer also talks about his role in helping grow Republican supermajorities in the state legislature and comments on Donald Trump winning another four-year term in the White House and how Trump’s “Make America Great Again” coalition mirrors Ronald Reagan’s success in the 1980s. Thayer also says the Republican Party has become the party of the working class, while he believes the Democrats have shifted toward being the party of “coastal elite liberals.”

You can watch the full 'In Focus Kentucky' segment in the player above.