General Assembly votes to split county between 2nd, 4th Congressional district
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 — Nelson County’s long history as part of Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District was ended Saturday when new Congressional District maps were approved by the General Assembly.
The redistricting approved by the General Assembly splits Nelson County basically in half, with the southern part of the county — south of Bardstown — still in U.S. Rep. Brett Gutherie’s 2nd Congressional District, and the northern half of the county moved to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie’s 4th Congressional District.
The Nelson County precincts now in Rep. Massie’s Congressional District include: A105 (part); B101, B-102 (part), B104, D102, D103, D104, D105 (part), E101, E102, E103, E104, and E105 (part).
The remaining precincts and parts of precincts will remain in Guthrie’s 2nd Congressional District.
LOCAL DEMS RESPOND. Nelson County Democrats bristled at the change when drafts of the map were released.
“This proposal is very detrimental to Nelson County in many ways and will have a negative impact on Nelson County for decades to come …”
The statement called on Rep. Chad McCoy and the rest of the Republicans in the General Assembly to make the changes necessary to keep Nelson County in the 2nd Congressional District.
There were minor adjustments made to the Nelson County map prior to its approval on Saturday, with one precinct added to the 4th Congressional District.
STATE SENATE REDISTRICTING. Sen. Jimmy Higdon’s 14th District which currently includes Casey, Marion, Nelson, Spencer and part of Jefferson County, will now include the counties of Nelson, Marion, Spencer, LaRue and Washington.
STATE HOUSE REDISTRICTING. The redistricting doesn’t affect 50th District Rep. Chad McCoy’s district, which will still be the entireity of Nelson County.
FINAL ACT. The General Assembly also passed a bill Saturday that would allow a legal challenge to the redistricting maps to be filed in the Circuit Court of the plaintiff’s residence.
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