They’re running to succeed Republican Congressman Andy Barr, who left his seat in a bid for U.S. Senate. He’s held the seat since 2013 and Tuesday won his party’s nomination for the election to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the long-serving Republican leader.
On the Republican side, Alvarado picked up major national endorsements from President Donald Trump and 5th District Congressman Hal Rogers during his campaign.
Alvarado, a former Kentucky state senator, served as the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health from 2023 to 2025 before returning to Kentucky politics.
He beat out candidates including state Rep. Ryan Dotson and businessman Greg Plucinski to secure his party’s nomination. He’s looking to maintain the GOP’s hold over Kentucky’s 6th district, which Barr won with 63% of the vote in 2024. It hasn’t elected a Democrat since Rep. Ben Chandler more than 15 years ago.
Alvarado noted the general election could be competitive.
“I think the Democrats are gearing up,” he said Tuesday night. “They think they have a chance here. We’re going to make sure that they realize that they don't have a chance here in winning this seat and we're going to work very hard at raising the money to make sure we get our message out.”
Democrats have characterized central Kentucky as a “purple” district that could potentially be flipped in November. That’s despite Trump winning the district by 15 points in 2024.
“My old boss, Gov. Andy Beshear, won this congressional district by 20 points,” Dembo said. “That is decisive. It's more than President Trump won it by. It shows it's already a purple district, but you need to have the right message and the right messenger, and right now we have an elected Republican party who say their only priority is to support the president rather than fighting for us.”
Dembo decided to run for Congress after resigning from his post in protest of the Trump administration. He led the Democratic field in fundraising and spending throughout his campaign, and also picked up endorsements from Chandler and former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray.
He beat candidates including Erin Petrey, a progressive and former Amazon Web Services worker who has campaigned against data centers, David Kloiber, a former Lexington city council member and Cherlynn Stevenson, a former state representative.
Both Alvarado and Dembo are campaigning on affordability amid higher grocery and fuel prices. Alvarado, a doctor, is also campaigning on public wellness, citing the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again program. Dembo is touting his credentials as a former prosecutor, making his case as an anti-corruption candidate.
The two candidates will face off in November’s general election. According to Public Policy Polling, voter support for Dembo and Alvarado is roughly even, with both candidates polling at 37%.
Elsewhere in eastern Kentucky, longtime Republican Congressman Hal Rogers will face off against Democratic nominee Ned Pillersdorf, an attorney who represented thousands of eastern Kentuckians who were scammed out of Social Security benefits in a nationally publicized trial.
Rogers, 88, was first elected to Congress in 1980, making him the dean of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has used his seniority and influence over the years to steer billions of dollars to his eastern Kentucky district, but in recent years has aligned himself with Trump.
For example, in 2021, he voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bill he might have supported in the past but Trump, then out of office, opposed.
Rogers’ Republican House colleague, Rep. Thomas Massie of northern Kentucky, lost his re-election campaign Tuesday to Ed Gallrein after opposing Trump on a number of key issues.
