| Advertisement |
|
|
Despite the outcome, the November general election will be introducing nearly one-third of Jessamine County, more than 9,000 registered voters, to a new U.S. Representative.
In February, House Bill 302 split Jessamine County into the 6th and 2nd U.S. Congressional districts. The line zigzags north to south down Harrodsburg Road/Lexington Avenue and encompasses Wilmore.
This means voters in that area will not be choosing between Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler and Republican challenger Andy Barr.
Instead voters west of the new congressional line will have a choice of either incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie and perennial candidate/Democratic challenger David L. Williams.
Hailing from Bowling Green, Guthrie spent eight years as a representative in the 32nd district. He was elected in to the U.S. House of Representative in 2008 at the same time President Barack Obama was elected, and he said since then things have only gotten worse for the country.
“We have big issues in Washington to solve, jobs and the economy in the short term, but in the long term it is our debt,” Guthrie said. “And our inability to get things passed and signed by the president to deal with our debt is a problem.”
Guthrie said that not dealing with the country’s structural budget problems is the biggest threat to the not only the retiring “baby boomers” but to America’s youth.
Guthrie said if reelected he will continue to fight to create a sustainable budget and tackle the deficit and debt.
“Inflation is a cruel tax on our seniors on fixed incomes,” Guthrie said. “Gas and groceries are going up and my goal is to work with either a new administration, or this one if they are really willing to work, is to get a structural budget in place.”
Guthrie said the danger of not reforming the budget will cause the generation 30 years from now to pay 100 percent of the full retirements and social security, which does not account for any outside spending such as the military.
On top of protecting seniors and safe guarding future generations, Guthrie said his focus is on strengthening small businesses.
In September he was named “Guardian of the Small Business” by the National Federation of the Independent Business.
“I want to make sure we don’t increase the taxes on small or medium size business - like the ones in Wilmore,” he said. “We want to protect them and stop the excess regulation coming out of Washington. The regulations on Wall Street have hurt Main Street especially when loans are concerned.”
In the end, Guthrie said he does not want the voters of Jessamine County, which have only recently been placed into the 2nd Congressional District, to feel disenfranchised by the fact that the location of his main headquarters is in Bowling Green.
He knows he’s “new” to the county, but said he’s sending out mailer and spending time with voters and their local officials to introduce himself to them.
“I’ll always have someone here, someone to contact, someone to be a liaison,” he said. “And I’ve already been with local officials and talked to them, and heard their concerns. If reelected we’ll have an office and place for people to come to.”
Editor's note: David L. Williams did not return requests from The Jessamine Journal for an interview.