Kentucky legislators in each house have introduced bills to move the elections for Governor and the other statewide executive positions from the odd year prior to a presidential election year, to presidential election years. The bills are SB 52 by Senator Christian McDaniel, and HB 81 by Representative Kenny Imes. Both are Republicans.

If the bills pass, the voters would be asked to approve the change, because the current schedule is in the Kentucky Constitution. Currently, Kentucky is one of five states that elects its Governor in odd years. The others are New Jersey and Virginia (both of which have gubernatorial elections in 2017), and Mississippi and Louisiana (which, along with Kentucky, last elected a Governor in 2015).

If the bill passes, the statewide officers elected in 2019 would have five-year terms, and then 2024 would be the first presidential election year with a gubernatorial election. Kentucky already elects all its state legislators in even years, so the change would save money for election administrators, because they wouldn’t need statewide state elections every year, as is currently the case.