| Government | | | | 2006, 57.05% of the state's voters were |
| The Kentucky Constitution provides for | | | | officially registered as Democrats, |
| three branches of government: | | | | 36.55% registered Republican, and 6.39% |
| legislative, judicial, and executive. | | | | registered with some other political |
| Legislative | | | | party.[32] |
| Kentucky's legislative branch consists | | | | Kentucky has voted Republican in five of |
| of a bicameral body known as the | | | | the last seven presidential elections |
| Kentucky General Assembly. The Senate is | | | | but has supported the Democratic |
| considered the upper house. It has 38 | | | | candidates of the South. The |
| members, and is led by the President of | | | | Commonwealth supported Democrats Jimmy |
| the Senate, currently Republican David | | | | Carter in 1976, and Bill Clinton in 1992 |
| L. Williams. The House of | | | | and 1996, but Republican George W. Bush |
| Representatives has 100 members, and is | | | | in 2000 and 2004. Bush won the state's 8 |
| led by the Speaker of the House, | | | | electoral votes overwhelmingly in 2004 |
| currently Democrat Jody Richards. | | | | by a margin of 20 percentage points and |
| Executive | | | | 59.6% of the vote. |
| The executive branch is headed by the | | | | Law |
| governor and lieutenant governor. Under | | | | Kentucky's body of laws, known as the |
| the current Kentucky Constitution, the | | | | Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), were |
| lieutenant governor assumes the duties | | | | enacted in 1942 to better organize and |
| of the governor only if the governor is | | | | clarify the whole of Kentucky law.[33] |
| incapacitated. (Prior to 1992, the | | | | The statutes are enforced by local |
| lieutenant governor assumed power any | | | | police, sheriffs, and sheriff's |
| time the governor was out of the state.) | | | | deputies. Unless they have completed a |
| The governor and lieutenant governor | | | | police academy elsewhere, these officers |
| usually run on a single ticket (also per | | | | are required to complete training at the |
| a 1992 constitutional amendment), and | | | | Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice |
| are elected to four-year terms. | | | | Training Center on the campus of Eastern |
| Currently, the governor and lieutenant | | | | Kentucky University.[34] Additionally, |
| governor are Republicans Ernie Fletcher | | | | in 1948, the Kentucky General Assembly |
| and Steve Pence, respectively. | | | | established the Kentucky State Police |
| Judicial | | | | force, making it the 38th state to |
| The judicial branch of Kentucky is made | | | | create a force whose jurisdiction |
| up of trial courts, called District and | | | | extends throughout the given state.[35] |
| Circuit Courts; an intermediate | | | | Kentucky is one of 38 states in the |
| appellate court, called the Kentucky | | | | United States that sanctions the death |
| Court of Appeals; and a court of last | | | | penalty for certain crimes. Criminals |
| resort, the Kentucky Supreme Court. | | | | convicted after March 31, 1998 are |
| Unlike federal judges, who are usually | | | | always executed by lethal injection; |
| appointed, justices serving on Kentucky | | | | those convicted before this date may opt |
| state courts are chosen by the state's | | | | for the electric chair.[36] Only two |
| populace in non-partisan elections. | | | | people have been executed in Kentucky |
| The state's chief prosecutor, law | | | | since the U.S. Supreme Court |
| enforcement officer, and law officer is | | | | reinstituted the practice in 1976. The |
| the attorney general. The attorney | | | | most notable execution in Kentucky, |
| general is elected to a four-year term | | | | however, was that of Rainey Bethea on |
| and may serve two consecutive terms | | | | August 14, 1936. Bethea was publicly |
| under the current Kentucky Constitution. | | | | hanged in Owensboro for the of rape and |
| Currently, the Kentucky attorney general | | | | murder of Lischia Edwards. |
| is Democrat Greg Stumbo. | | | | Irregularities with the execution led to |
| Federal representation | | | | this becoming the last public execution |
| Kentucky's two Senators are Senate | | | | in the United States. |
| Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Jim | | | | Kentucky has been on the front lines of |
| Bunning, both Republicans. The state is | | | | the debate over displaying the Ten |
| divided into six Congressional | | | | Commandments on public property. In the |
| Districts, represented by Republicans Ed | | | | 2005 case of McCreary County v. ACLU of |
| Whitfield (1st), Ron Lewis (2nd), Geoff | | | | Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld |
| Davis (4th), and Hal Rogers (5th), and | | | | the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court |
| Democrats John Yarmuth (3rd) and Ben | | | | of Appeals that a display of the Ten |
| Chandler (6th). | | | | Commandments in the Whitley City |
| Judicially, Kentucky is split into two | | | | courthouse of McCreary County was |
| Federal court districts: the Kentucky | | | | unconstitutional.[39] Later that year, |
| Eastern District and the Kentucky | | | | Judge Richard Fred Suhrheinrich, writing |
| Western District. Appeals are heard in | | | | for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals |
| the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based | | | | in the case of ACLU of Kentucky v. |
| in Cincinnati, Ohio. | | | | Mercer County, wrote that a display |
| Political leanings | | | | including the Mayflower Compact, the |
| Where politics are concerned, Kentucky | | | | Declaration of Independence, the Ten |
| historically has been very hard fought | | | | Commandments, the Magna Carta, The |
| and leaned slightly toward the | | | | Star-Spangled Banner, and the national |
| Democratic Party, although it was never | | | | motto could be erected in the Mercer |
| included among the "Solid South." In | | | | County courthouse |