Editing Jim Bunning (section)

===Local and state positions===
[[File:Reagan Contact Sheet C15747 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Bunning greeting President [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1983]]

First elected to office in 1977, Bunning served two years on the non-partisan city council of [[Fort Thomas, Kentucky]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Jim Bunning, Hall of Fame pitcher and ex-U.S. senator, dies |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/05/27/jim-bunning-hall-fame-pitcher-and-ex-u-s-senator-dies/351535001/ |access-date=December 8, 2024 |work=USA Today |date=May 27, 2017}}</ref> before running for and winning a seat in the [[Kentucky Senate]] as a Republican.<ref>{{cite web|last=Collier |first=Mark |url=http://www.fortthomasmatters.com/2017/05/jim-bunning-former-us-senator-and.html |title=Jim Bunning, Former US Senator and Baseball Hall of Famer, Passes Away |publisher=Fort Thomas Matters |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref> He was elected minority leader by his Republican colleagues, a rare feat for a freshman legislator.<ref>{{cite web|author=TEGNA |url=http://www.whas11.com/news/local/jim-bunning-hall-of-fame-pitcher-and-ex-us-senator-from-kentucky-dead-at-85/443542218 |title=Jim Bunning, Hall of Fame pitcher and ex-U.S. senator from Kentucky, dead at 85 |publisher=WHAS11.com |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref>

Bunning was the Republican candidate for [[Governor of Kentucky]] in 1983. He and his running mate [[Eugene P. Stuart]] lost in the general election to Democrat [[Martha Layne Collins]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Peterson |first=Bill |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/11/09/martha-collins-elected-kentucky-governor/8e131149-6407-45a1-9473-ecc1f9fd09a7/ |title=Martha Collins Elected Kentucky Governor |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 9, 1983 |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref>