Editing Kentucky (section)

==Law and government==

{{Further|Government of Kentucky}}

Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to officially use the term ''[[Commonwealth (U.S. state)|commonwealth]].'' The term was used for Kentucky as it had also been used by Virginia, from which Kentucky was created. The term has no particular significance in its meaning and was chosen to emphasize the distinction from the status of royal colonies as a place governed for the general welfare of the populace.<ref>[http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html The Commonwealth of Kentucky] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525150528/http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html |date=May 25, 2012 }}, Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer, [[University of Kentucky]] website.</ref> Kentucky was originally styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the act admitting it to the Union and its first constitution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress.php|title=Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America|author=United States Congress|website=Statutes at Large: 1st Congress|date=September 2014|page=189|access-date=June 4, 2017|archive-date=May 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507145334/http://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

The "Commonwealth" term was used in citizen petitions submitted between 1786 and 1792 for the creation of the state.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kentucky|url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/kentucky|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=HISTORY|date=November 9, 2009 |language=en|archive-date=June 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620153533/https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/kentucky|url-status=live}}</ref> It was also used in the title of a history of the state that was published in 1834 and was used in various places within that book in references to Virginia and Kentucky.<ref>Butler, Mann, ''[https://archive.org/details/historyofcommonw00butl A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]'', Wilcox, Dickerman & Co., 1834.</ref> The other three states officially called "commonwealths" are [[Massachusetts]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Virginia]]; the territories of [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] are also formally commonwealths.

Kentucky is one of only five states that elect their state officials in odd-numbered years (the others being [[Louisiana]], [[Mississippi]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Virginia]]). Kentucky holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, Kentucky held gubernatorial elections in 2015, 2019 and 2023.

===Executive branch===

[[File:KY Governors Mansion.png|thumb|upright=1.25|The governor's mansion in [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]]]]

The executive branch is headed by the [[Governor of Kentucky|governor]], who serves as both [[head of state]] and [[head of government]]. The [[Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky|lieutenant governor]] may or may not have executive authority depending on whether the person is a member of the Governor's [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]]. Under the current [[Kentucky Constitution]], the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor only if the governor is incapacitated. (Before 1992 the lieutenant governor assumed power any time the governor was out of the state.) The governor and lieutenant governor usually run on a single ticket (also per a 1992 constitutional amendment) and are elected to four-year terms. The current governor is [[Andy Beshear]], and the lieutenant governor is [[Jacqueline Coleman]]. Both are [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/357f0e6196414923acee9ee7aebdf8b8|title=Beshear set for 'next chapter' as Bevin concedes in Kentucky|date=November 14, 2019|website=AP NEWS|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117002146/https://apnews.com/357f0e6196414923acee9ee7aebdf8b8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/matt-bevin-concedes-defeat-in-kentucky-governors-race/2019/11/14/42fc0ea7-2d26-4f87-9856-07f6c701ad7b_video.html|title=Matt Bevin concedes defeat in Kentucky governor's race|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115232142/https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/matt-bevin-concedes-defeat-in-kentucky-governors-race/2019/11/14/42fc0ea7-2d26-4f87-9856-07f6c701ad7b_video.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The executive branch is organized into the following "cabinets", each headed by a secretary who is also a member of the governor's cabinet:<ref>{{cite web|title=Organizational Charts|work=Kentucky Personnel|publisher=Kentucky Personnel Cabinet|access-date=December 23, 2020|url=https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/OrgCharts.aspx|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101151723/https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/OrgCharts.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* General Government Cabinet
* [[Kentucky Transportation Cabinet|Transportation Cabinet]]
* Cabinet for Economic Development
* Finance and Administration Cabinet
* Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet
* Education and Workforce Development Cabinet
* Cabinet for Health and Family Services
* [[Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet|Justice and Public Safety Cabinet]]
* Personnel Cabinet
* Labor Cabinet
* [[Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet|Energy and Environment Cabinet]]
* Public Protection Cabinet

The cabinet system was introduced in 1972 by Governor [[Wendell Ford]] to consolidate hundreds of government entities that reported directly to the governor's office.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kentucky Government, Politics, and Public Policy|editor1-first=James C.|editor1-last=Clinger|editor2-first=Michael W.|editor2-last=Hail|location=Lexington, Kentucky|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|date=October 8, 2013|page=70|isbn=978-0-8131-4315-6|quote=By 1972 Governor Wendell Ford found himself in a situation similar to that of Governor [[Happy Chandler|Chandler]] thirty-six years earlier. At this time the executive branch had grown to over 60 departments and agencies and 210 boards and commissions falling under the jurisdiction of the governor. Governor Ford issued a reorganization report creating six cabinet departments and a framework for an executive branch that would be more manageable and accountable. As of 2012, this has grown to eleven cabinet departments with three additional cabinet-rank members under the office of Governor [[Steve Beshear|Beshear]]. Each cabinet agency is headed by a secretary who serves at the will of the governor.}}</ref>

Other elected constitutional offices include the [[Secretary of State of Kentucky|Secretary of State]], [[Attorney General of Kentucky|Attorney General]], Auditor of Public Accounts, [[Kentucky State Treasurer|State Treasurer]] and Commissioner of Agriculture. Currently, Republican [[Michael Adams (Kentucky politician)|Michael G. Adams]] serves as the Secretary of State. The commonwealth's chief prosecutor, law enforcement officer, and law officer is the Attorney General, currently Republican [[Russell Coleman]]. The Auditor of Public Accounts is Republican [[Allison Ball]]. Republican [[Mark Metcalf (politician)|Mark Metcalf]] is the current Treasurer. Republican [[Jonathan Shell]] is the current [[Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture|Commissioner of Agriculture]].

===Legislative branch===
[[File:Kentucky_State_Capitol_Building.jpg|thumb|The Kentucky State Capitol Building]]
Kentucky's legislative branch consists of a [[bicameralism|bicameral]] body known as the [[Kentucky General Assembly]]. The [[Kentucky Senate|Senate]] is considered the [[upper house]]. It has 38 members and is led by the [[President of the Senate]], currently [[Robert Stivers]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]]). The [[Kentucky House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] has 100 members, and is led by the Speaker of the House, currently [[David Osborne (politician)|David Osborne]] of the Republican Party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-house-speaker-jeff-hoover-resigns-as-speaker-of-the-house/13304171|title=Representative Jeff Hoover resigns as Speaker of the House|last=Shaw|first=Courtney|date=November 6, 2017|work=WLKY|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=September 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005843/https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-house-speaker-jeff-hoover-resigns-as-speaker-of-the-house/13304171|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, Republicans won control of the House for the first time since 1922. The party currently holds supermajorities in both chambers.<ref name="Hoover">{{cite web|url=http://www.wave3.com/story/34171035/jeff-hoover-becomes-kentuckys-first-republican-house-speaker-in-96-years|title=Jeff Hoover becomes Kentucky's first Republican House Speaker in 96 years|last=Boyd|first=Gordon|date=January 3, 2017|publisher=[[WAVE (TV)|WAVE]]|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002236/http://www.wave3.com/story/34171035/jeff-hoover-becomes-kentuckys-first-republican-house-speaker-in-96-years|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Judicial branch===

The judicial branch of Kentucky is called the Kentucky Court of Justice<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx|title=Kentucky Court of Justice – Home|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107014242/https://courts.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> and comprises courts of [[limited jurisdiction]] called District Courts; courts of general jurisdiction called [[Kentucky Circuit Courts|Circuit Courts]]; specialty courts such as Drug Court<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/courtprograms/drugcourt/Pages/default.aspx|title=Adult Drug Court – Kentucky Drug Court: Saving Costs, Saving Lives|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=January 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119181832/http://courts.ky.gov/courtprograms/drugcourt/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Family Court;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/courts/familycourt/Pages/default.aspx|title=Family Court|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=January 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121174533/http://courts.ky.gov/courts/familycourt/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> an intermediate appellate court, the [[Kentucky Court of Appeals]]; and a court of last resort, the [[Kentucky Supreme Court]].

The Kentucky Court of Justice is headed by the [[Chief Justice]] of the Commonwealth. The chief justice is appointed by, and is an elected member of, the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The current chief justice is [[Laurance B. VanMeter|Laurance VanMeter]].

Unlike federal judges, who are usually appointed, justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the state's populace in non-partisan elections.

===Federal representation===

[[File:KY-districts-108.JPG|thumb|A map showing Kentucky's six [[Kentucky Congressional Districts|congressional districts]]]]

Kentucky's two [[United States Senate|U.S. senators]] are Senate Minority Leader [[Mitch McConnell]] and [[Rand Paul]], both Republicans. The state is divided into six [[Kentucky's congressional districts|congressional districts]], represented by Republicans [[James Comer (politician)|James Comer]] ([[Kentucky's 1st congressional district|1st]]), [[Brett Guthrie]] ([[Kentucky's 2nd congressional district|2nd]]), [[Thomas Massie]] ([[Kentucky's 4th congressional district|4th]]), [[Hal Rogers]] ([[Kentucky's 5th congressional district|5th]]) and [[Andy Barr (American politician)|Andy Barr]] ([[Kentucky's 6th congressional district|6th]]) and Democrat [[Morgan McGarvey]] ([[Kentucky's 3rd congressional district|3rd]]).

In the federal judiciary, Kentucky is served by two [[United States district court]]s: the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky|Eastern District of Kentucky]], with its primary seat in Lexington, and the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky|Western District of Kentucky]], with its primary seat in Louisville. Appeals are heard in the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]], based in [[Cincinnati]], Ohio.

===Law===

[[File:Kentucky schild.jpg|thumb|State sign, [[Interstate 65]]]]

Kentucky's body of laws, known as the [[Kentucky Revised Statutes]] (KRS), were enacted in 1942 to better organize and clarify the whole of Kentucky law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statrev/revoff.htm |title=Reviser of Statutes Office – History and Functions |publisher=Kentucky Legislative Research Commission |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=February 6, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206205857/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statrev/revoff.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The statutes are enforced by local [[police]], [[Sheriffs in the United States|sheriffs]] and deputy sheriffs, and [[constable]]s and deputy constables. Unless they have completed a [[police academy]] elsewhere, these officers are required to complete Police Officer Professional Standards (POPS) training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of [[Eastern Kentucky University]] in [[Richmond, Kentucky|Richmond]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docjt.jus.state.ky.us/history.html |title=History of the DOCJT |publisher=Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice |access-date=December 27, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060323200601/http://docjt.jus.state.ky.us/history.html |archive-date=March 23, 2006 }}</ref> Additionally, in 1948, the [[Kentucky General Assembly]] established the [[Kentucky State Police]], making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |title=History of the Kentucky State Police |publisher=Kentucky State Police |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206002358/http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |archive-date=December 6, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kentucky is one of the [[Capital punishment in the United States|32 states in the United States]] that sanctions the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] for certain murders defined as heinous. Those convicted of capital crimes after March 31, 1998, are always executed by [[lethal injection]]; those convicted on or before this date may opt for the [[electric chair]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution#state |title=Authorized Methods of Execution by State |publisher=Death Penalty Information Center |access-date=December 28, 2006 |archive-date=February 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225054450/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution#state |url-status=live }}</ref> Only [[List of people executed in Kentucky|three people]] have been executed in Kentucky since the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] re-instituted the practice in 1976. The most notable execution in Kentucky was that of [[Rainey Bethea]] on August 14, 1936. Bethea was publicly hanged in [[Owensboro, Kentucky|Owensboro]] for the [[rape]] and murder of Lischia Edwards.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kypost.com/2001/jun/11/bethea061101.html |title=The Last Public Execution in America |work=[[The Kentucky Post]]|last=Long |first=Paul A. |date=June 11, 2001 |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060117233210/http://www.kypost.com/2001/jun/11/bethea061101.html |archive-date=January 17, 2006}}</ref> Irregularities with the execution led to this becoming the last public execution in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html |title=The Last Public Execution in America |publisher=[[NPR]] |last=Montagne |first=Renee |date=May 1, 2001 |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=August 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808204951/https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky has been on the front lines of the debate over displaying the [[Ten Commandments]] on public property. In the 2005 case of ''[[McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky]]'', the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] upheld the decision of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals]] that a display of the [[Ten Commandments]] in the [[Whitley City, Kentucky|Whitley City]] courthouse of [[McCreary County, Kentucky|McCreary County]] was unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZS.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616194116/http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZS.html |archive-date=June 16, 2009 |title=''McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky'' |publisher=[[Cornell University]] Law School |access-date=December 27, 2006}}</ref> Later that year, Judge [[Richard Fred Suhrheinrich]], writing for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals]] in the case of ''[[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] of Kentucky v. [[Mercer County, Kentucky|Mercer County]]'', wrote that a display including the [[Mayflower Compact]], the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], the [[Ten Commandments]], [[Magna Carta]], ''[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]'', and the [[In God We Trust|national motto]] could be erected in the [[Mercer County, Kentucky|Mercer County]] courthouse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf |title=Text of decision in ''ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County'' |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=December 6, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206084948/http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky has been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws, especially compared to surrounding states. The origin of this is unknown.

===Politics===
{{Further|Political party strength in Kentucky}}
[[File:United States presidential election in Kentucky, 2016.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|[[Treemap]] of the popular vote by county, 2016 presidential election]]

Since the late 1990s, Kentucky has supported [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidates for most federal political offices, and, more recently, for state-level office as well. The state leaned toward the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] from 1860 through the 1990s, and was considered a [[swing state]] at the presidential level for most of the latter half of the 20th century.

The southeastern region of the state aligned with the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] during the war and has consistently supported Republican candidates. The central and western portions of the state were heavily Democratic in the years leading to the Civil War, were pro-secessionist and pro-Confederate during the Civil War, and in the decades following the war. Kentucky was part of the Democratic [[Solid South]] in the second half of the nineteenth century and through the majority of the twentieth century.

Mirroring a broader national reversal of party composition, the Kentucky Democratic Party of the twenty-first century primarily consists of liberal whites, African Americans, and other minorities. Although most of the state's voters have reliably elected Republican candidates for federal office since the late 1990s, Democrats held an advantage in party registration until 2022. On July 15, 2022, the [[Secretary of State of Kentucky|Kentucky Secretary of State]]'s office announced that for the first time in its history, the commonwealth had more registered [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] than registered Democrats, with 45.19% of the state's voters registered as Republicans, 45.12% registered as Democrats, and 9.69% registered with [[Third party (United States)|another political party]] or as independents.<ref name="kypartyreg">{{cite web|url=https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/voterstatscounty-20220115-075312.pdf|title=Election Statistics Registration Statistics|website=elect.ky.gov|access-date=January 19, 2022|archive-date=January 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119190209/https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/voterstatscounty-20220115-075312.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

From 1964 through 2004, Kentucky voted for the eventual winner of the election for President of the United States; however, in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]] the state lost its [[bellwether]] status. Republican [[John McCain]] won Kentucky, but he lost the national popular and electoral vote to Democrat [[Barack Obama]] (McCain carried Kentucky 57% to 41%). 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties supported former [[Massachusetts]] Governor [[Mitt Romney]] in the 2012 election while he lost to Barack Obama nationwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/president/kentucky/|title=2012 Kentucky Presidential Results|website=POLITICO|access-date=June 25, 2016|archive-date=June 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623182920/http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/president/kentucky/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/map/#/President/2012/|title=2012 Election Results Map by State – Live Voting Updates|last=POLITICO|website=POLITICO|access-date=June 25, 2016|archive-date=June 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627220942/http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/map/#/President/2012/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Voters in the Commonwealth have supported the previous three Democratic candidates elected to the White House in the late 20th century, all from Southern states: [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] ([[Texas]]) in 1964, [[Jimmy Carter]] ([[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]) in 1976, and [[Bill Clinton]] ([[Arkansas]]) in 1992 and 1996. In the twenty-first century presidential elections, the state has become a Republican stronghold, supporting that party's presidential candidates by double-digit margins from 2000 through 2020. At the same time, voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions.

[[Elliott County, Kentucky]] is notable for having held the longest streak of any county in the United States voting Democratic. Founded in 1869, Elliott County supported the Democratic nominee in every presidential election from [[1872 United States presidential election in Kentucky|1872]] (the first in which it participated) until [[2012 United States presidential election in Kentucky|2012]]. In [[2016 United States presidential election in Kentucky|2016]], [[Donald Trump]] became the first Republican to ever carry the county, and he did so in a 44-point landslide, highlighting the modern Republican Party's dominance among rural whites and many ancestrally Democratic, socially-conservative voters.

Kentucky is one of the most [[anti-abortion]] states in the United States. A 2014 poll conducted by [[Pew Research Center]] found that 57% of Kentucky's population thought that [[abortion]] should be illegal in all/most cases, while only 36% thought that abortion should be legal in all/most cases.<ref>{{cite web|title=Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics|url=https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/|access-date=April 17, 2021|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|archive-date=April 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411213946/https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2020 study, Kentucky was ranked as the 8th hardest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=December 15, 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="6" | Voter registration and party enrollment as of December 2024<ref name=KYSBE>{{cite web|url=https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Pages/Registration-Statistics.aspx|title=Registration Statistics|publisher=Kentucky State Board of Elections|date=February 2023|access-date=January 12, 2025|archive-date=November 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106154714/https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Pages/Registration-Statistics.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,674,447
| style="text-align:center;" | 47.04%
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,499,867
| style="text-align:center;" | 42.14%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| Other 
| style="text-align:center;" | 214,075
| style="text-align:center;" | 6.01%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| Independent 
| style="text-align:center;" | 171,264
| style="text-align:center;" | 4.81%
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 3,559,653
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|}