WKYT Fact✓Check | What impact did Democratic ‘blue wave’ have in Kentucky?

KENTUCKY (WKYT) - Democrats are calling Tuesday’s election results a blue wave. In Kentucky, Democrats flipped the 6th Congressional District seat, but the Democratic Senate nominee lost by double digits.

Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr won his U.S. Senate race by 12 points, defeating Democratic nominee Charles Booker.

At the state level, Republicans still hold a supermajority in Frankfort, though Democrats flipped some seats.

Comparing 2026 to 2024

President Donald Trump won Kentucky by more than 30 points in 2024. This year, when Trump was not on the ballot, Barr won by about 12 points.

This year’s election results are not certified. The State Board of Elections has until Nov. 23 to certify votes. The comparison uses certified 2024 results and unofficial 2026 results.

Margins narrow in all 120 counties

An analysis found Kentucky remains Republican-leaning, but the margins have narrowed.

The election margins in all 120 Kentucky counties shifted toward Democrats in 2026 compared with 2024. The same is true when comparing 2026 with certified 2022 results, another year when Trump was not on the ballot.

Beshear and Stivers respond

Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, pointed to the 6th District result.

“Donald Trump won the state by 30 points. He’d won the 6th Congressional District by 15 points. Yet, we flipped that 6th Congressional District and elected Zach Dembo,” Beshear said. “We saw seven seats flip in our state House, two in our state Senate, and that’s the first time there’s been a net pickup for Democrats in 10 years. So it was a big shift.”

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, of District 25, said the shift is a result of national and international politics, not a reflection of what Republicans are doing in Frankfort.

“I don’t think anything that was judged on what we’ve done in the state of Kentucky. It was a nationalization of the issues by the Democratic Party,” Stivers said. “Just draw up your list: Strait of Hormuz, gas prices, food prices.”

What Republicans won

Kentucky shifted toward Democrats in every county. The state remains Republican-leaning.

Republicans won the state’s only open U.S. Senate seat and four of the state’s six congressional districts.