This November, Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District is on the ballot. Brett Guthrie, Republican nominee and incumbent, and Hank Linderman, Democratic nominee, are competing to represent the district.

The district includes cities like Owensboro, Elizabethtown, Glasgow and Bowling Green. It covers a population of 778,648.

The race has the ability to affect the balance of the House of Representatives. Republicans need to gain a net of six districts in order to achieve the majority. 

Brett Guthrie

Guthrie has served in the House of Representatives for District 2 since 2008 and has served in public office since 1998. In office, he serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Communications and Technology Subcommittee and the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee.

Guthrie’s platform contains goals like helping Kentuckians find jobs, financial literacy for students and energy independence for the U.S.

He is co-chair of the Congressional Apprenticeship Caucus, which works to see how Congress can help support apprenticeships to aid in workers learning “on the job.”

Guthrie hopes to increase financial literacy for college students and their families so they can better understand financial commitments they make.

“I have supported legislation to help student borrowers better understand their financial obligations by receiving comprehensive counseling services,” Guthrie’s website states. “Towards that bigger goal, I have also supported the bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act. This bill would provide better access and transparency for prospective students and their families to compare the cost of attending an institution of higher education.”

According to his site, Guthrie believes the U.S. should stay independent when it comes to where the country gets its energy sources.

“I am a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus and think that climate change is a real and serious threat,” Guthrie’s website states. “However,  I do not believe that radical solutions proposed in the Democrats’ “Green New Deal” are the solution.”

One of Guthrie’s other main goals is to halt the opioid epidemic that affects many Kentuckians. He has introduced a law to establish a grant program for facilities to “offer all evidence-based treatments and FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder”.

The Herald reached out to Guthrie for an interview but received no response. For more information on Guthrie’s platform, visit his website.

Hank Linderman

Linderman’s platform focuses on striving for equality, socially and economically, in order to create change in healthcare, employment, education and climate change.

Linderman said he believes more working people need to be in government positions, which is one of the reasons he himself is running. Before running as a political candidate, Linderman worked in the music industry as a recording musician. 

He also said at the base of working on current political issues is first tackling inequality and division. Linderman said division increases corruption in political systems, which then increases inequality.

“I think that ultimately, if we’re going to solve problems, we’ve got to rely less on ideology and more on collaboration, not compromise so much as collaboration,” Linderman said. 

Linderman describes himself as a “progressive, pragmatic populist.”

“To me, populism is social and economic change from the grassroots up, it can be [on the] left or right,” Linderman said. “It doesn’t matter [which party], but it’s from the people. Right now, neither one of our parties is connected to the grassroots.”

Part of his platform is also concerned with bringing a political connection to working people and rebuilding industrialization that was lost during COVID-19.

“We have this opportunity, as we re-industrialize, we treat working people properly and allow them to share in the prosperity that is sure to come,” Linderman said. “We have a chance of rebuilding a vibrant, working middle class from when our country was strongest.”

Linderman said if he is elected, he will commit to serving no more than three terms, seeing himself as a “transitional figure” to more diverse political leadership. He also spoke actively on his pro-choice stance on the right to abortion.

For more information on Linderman’s platform, visit his website.

Content editor Alexandria Anderson can be reached at [email protected].