West Kentucky Democrats joined together Thursday night for their annual fall banquet at Murray State. The banquet acts as a platform for local Democratic politicians to get their message out before people hit the polls in November.
The overall theme this year was simple: preventing Republicans from taking the House majority come November.
Republicans have made flipping the House a priority. Kentucky’s House is the last legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats.
Congressman John Yarmuth, the state’s lone Democrat in Washington, spoke in favor of western Kentucky Democrats Sam Gaskins and David Ramey. Gaskins is running against James Comer for the U.S. House of Representatives and Ramey against Kenny Imes for the State House District 5 Seat.
"I want to talk about what’s really important this year, obviously the presidency is, obviously we want to elect as many members to the U.S House as we can," Yarmuth said. "But nothing in Kentucky is more important than remaining control of the House of Representatives."
The speakers effort on holding the house centered on pushing against Republican Governor Matt Bevin’s conservative agenda. Yarmuth said Bevin doesn't have the backing he needs from Kentucky to follow through with what he wants to achieve.
"We have a governor who got 16%, which means 84% of registered voters didn’t vote for him, and he thinks he has a mandate to do whatever he wants to do," Yarmuth said. "That’s dangerous, especially when you think you are on a mission from God, which he also believes."
The other politicians also spoke out against Governor Bevin. Sam Gaskins referred to him as "Napoleonic dictator."
“I know there’s places we can save money, but we still need these programs. We need people like Jeff and David up in Frankfort, fighting tooth and nail against a short, Napoleonic dictator, " Gaskins said.
State House District 8 Representative Jeff Taylor also spoke at the event and condemned Bevin's cuts to higher education. He faces challenger Walker Thomas on November 8.
Taylor and Thomas square off in a debate Monday night in Hopkinsville.