(LEX 18) — A group of voters in Kentucky wants to create a new political party in the Commonwealth. However, according to state law, the group may be striving to create a political organization, not a party.
"We asked everyone if they wanted the Kentucky Party to exist and they said yes," said Geoff Sebesta with the Kentucky Party. "So, now it exists."
On Thursday, the group calling themselves the Kentucky Party submitted signatures to put their inaugural presidential candidate, Jill Stein, on the Kentucky ballot. The Green Party has previously selected Stein as its presidential nominee in 2012, 2016, and 2024. Stein also ran unsuccessful third-party campaigns to become Massachusetts's governor in 2002 and 2010.
During a press conference in the Rotunda on Thursday, Sebesta announced that they believe if Stein receives 2% of the vote in November, "the Kentucky Party becomes an official political party."
"Legally equal to the Democratic and Republican parties," said Sebesta.
However, the Secretary of State's Office pointed LEX 18 to Kentucky law defining a political party as "an affiliation or organization of electors representing a political policy and having a constituted authority for its government and regulation, and whose candidate received at least twenty percent (20%) of the total vote cast at the last preceding election at which presidential electors were voted for."
Therefore, Kentucky only has two political parties - the Democratic Party of Kentucky and the Republican Party of Kentucky.
However, Kentucky law defines a political organization as "a political group not constituting a political party...but whose candidate received two percent (2%) or more of the vote of the state at the last preceding election for presidential electors."
Those who spoke on behalf of the Kentucky Party believe their group represents a growing sentiment that the current political system is not working.
"For too long, two major political parties in our state - the Democrats and the Republicans - have waged war not against each other, but against the people they claim to represent," said Violet Olds, an "uncommitted" delegate at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. "They have fought for power, not for justice. They have fought for the rich, not for the poor. They have fought for control, not for freedom."
"The same system once used to oppress Appalachian coalminers has simply been expanded," said Destiny Kelley, a rural Kentucky organizer. "And Kentuckians can no longer afford food, basic housing, medical care, education."
However, "other" candidates like Stein have been criticized for being "not serious." New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called Stein's attempts at the White House as inauthentic.
"All you do is show up once every four years to speak to people who are justifiably pissed off, but you're just showing up once every four years to do that, you're not serious," Ocasio-Cortez said. "To me, it does not read as authentic. It reads as predatory."
Stein responded to Ocasio-Cortez on X, alleging that the Democratic Party sues to keep third-party candidates off of ballots and prevents them from being able to participate in debates.
