A special election planned for Dec. 16 was announced in October after David Yates was chosen to act as interim Jefferson County Clerk.

The seat was left vacant when Jefferson County Clerk David Yates took over as Jefferson County clerk following the death of longtime clerk Bobbie Holsclaw.

The Louisville native had addressed community speculation that he might be running on Nov. 26 through a post on X, saying he was considering pursuing the soon-to-be-empty Senate seat.

The Dec. 16 special election is to fill the District 37 Senate seat left vacant when Yates took over as Jefferson County clerk following the death of longtime clerk Bobbie Holsclaw. Democrat Gary Clemons and Republican Calvin Leach are facing off for the seat.

Charles Booker is running again for the chamber as Democrats take chances even in heavily Republican states like Kentucky, where Senator Mitch McConnell is retiring.

This year was a pretty calm year politically for the state of Kentucky, as no elections took place this year, but election season is slowly heating up as 2026 is changing that. Candidates have already started to file to run and for re-election all across Kentucky.