Zach Dembo is a ninth-generation Kentuckian who hopes to flip this open seat. The district is currently represented by Rep. Andy Barr (R) who is running for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s open U.S. Senate seat. This is a R+7 district that President Trump carried by double digits in 2024, but Governor Andy Beshear, Dembo’s former boss who is fully behind his campaign, won this district by 20 points in 2023.
After graduating from Stanford University, Zach taught middle school English in rural classrooms, commissioned as a Navy JAG officer and was a top policy advisor in Gov. Beshear’s administration.
After his military service, Dembo became a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. In that role he traveled the country prosecuting crimes to protect people’s civil and constitutional rights. After leaving the Beshear administration, Dembo returned to his role as a federal prosecutor, this time in his hometown of Lexington, as an Assistant United States Attorney. He resigned from that position in 2025 when he saw corruption firsthand in the Department of Justice.
On Council issues, Dembo criticized President Trump’s war in Iran and favors diplomacy over conflict in U.S. foreign policy.
