LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When voters head to the polls on Nov. 8, they’ll be asked to decide who should represent them in Washington and Frankfort, on the bench and beyond.

In the state Legislature, Republicans hold a supermajority and dozens of Republican incumbents and newcomers are running unopposed this election. 

Elections specialist and University of Kentucky political science associate professor Stephen Voss said he does not expect to see much change in the balance of power. "We’ll still have a Republican supermajority, but it would be surprising for that Republican tilt to get even worse, to get notably worse in the coming contest,” he said. 

In the race for  U.S. Senate, Democrat Charles Booker is challenging incumbent Republican Rand Paul. "Really, a victory for Booker is if he ends up getting up more support than the last couple of Democrats who were seen as more mainstream, less aggressively Democratic in their messaging,” he said. 

The biggest question for Kentucky, said Voss, is what will happen with its two constitutional amendments, including Amendment 2, which asks if the Constitution should be amended to say nothing in it “shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” "We’re mostly left guessing what to expect in the coming election,” said Voss. "I know what abortion attitudes basically look like in the state of Kentucky, but I have very little information on how those attitudes are going to translate into the choice on Amendment 2." 

Voss said winning versus losing isn’t everything in politics. “Sometimes, when candidates do better than expected or a party does better than expected, it’s giving you signals about what’s to come, about what’s likely to happen in the long term,” he said. "To see the Democrats hold their legislative numbers, maybe even make gains after a redistricting, would be a pretty strong statement if it happened."