Sam Gaskins

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Sam Gaskins

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2016

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Sam Gaskins was a 2018 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Kentucky. He dropped out of the race in January 2018.

Gaskins was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Kentucky.

Elections

2018

See also: Kentucky's 1st Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Kentucky District 1

Incumbent James Comer Jr. defeated Paul Walker in the general election for U.S. House Kentucky District 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Comer Jr. (R)	68.6	172,167
		Paul Walker (D)	31.4	78,849

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 251,016
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 1

Paul Walker defeated Alonzo Pennington in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 1 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Paul Walker	81.2	75,148
		Alonzo Pennington	18.8	17,398

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 92,546
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 1

Incumbent James Comer Jr. advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Kentucky District 1 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		James Comer Jr.

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Kentucky's 1st Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Kentucky's 1st Congressional District seat was left open following incumbent Ed Whitfield's decision to retire. James Comer (R) defeated Sam Gaskins (D) and Terry McIntosh (Write-in) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Comer defeated Jason Batts, Miles Caughey Jr., and Michael Pape in the Republican primary. On the other side of the aisle, Sam Gaskins ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. The primary elections took place on May 17, 2016.

U.S. House, Kentucky District 1 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	James Comer	72.6%	216,959
	Democratic	Sam Gaskins	27.3%	81,710
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	332
Total Votes				299,001
Source: Kentucky Secretary of State

U.S. House, Kentucky District 1 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
James Comer	60.6%	24,342
Michael Pape	23.3%	9,357
Jason Batts	13.9%	5,578
Miles Caughey	2.2%	896
Total Votes		40,173
Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections

Campaign themes

2016

The following issues were listed on Gaskins' campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Veterans: Our Veterans have sacrificed so much for us that we owe them more than we could ever give back. The fact that Veterans have to wait for care is unacceptable. The fact that there is over 50,000 homeless Veterans living on the streets of our country is deplorable. The fact that 22 Veterans every day decide to end their lives is sickening. To combat this problem, programs need to be created and managed properly with the needs of the Veterans in mind, not whether or not it is convenient. Infrastructure: It is not just the roads and highways of our country that are crumbling. It is the water and sewer systems, electrical grid, dams, ports, and inland waterways. All of these affect Kentuckians in one way or another by delaying the reception of goods, increasing the price of goods, electrical failures, and the threat of dams breaking over populated areas. Also, adequate and trained inspectors need to be employed to make sure that we never let the veins of transportation, water, and power degrade to this point again. Labor: The ability to stand up for yourself against corporate entities are almost impossible alone. There needs to be more done to strengthen the ability of hard working Kentuckians to organize the ability for safe work conditions, fair and equal pay, and the ability to retire and enjoy the later years with their grandchildren if God has blessed them with some. Immigration: Our United States is a country founded by immigrants. The security of our nation can be protected through a proper vetting of new immigrants from an origin. With this vetting we can welcome anyone wanting to become a productive citizen. This will also show strength through caution, and also show compassion through welcoming. Education: The education of a child will always start at home and within their first social interactions. With the economy rebounding slowly, there are still families needing to have two incomes to make ends meet. For these families and for children needing early education to help prepare for entrance into the education system, there should be programs available. The higher education system needs to be reformed by lowering costs for the education versus throwing taxpayer funds at the problem.	”
—Sam Gaskins' campaign website, http://www.samgaskinsforcongress.com/issues

Campaign finance summary

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Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Sam Gaskins Kentucky Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Sam Gaskins - Google News

See also

Suggest a link

• United States House of Representatives
• Kentucky's 1st Congressional District election, 2018
• Kentucky's 1st Congressional District election, 2016
• Kentucky's 1st Congressional District

Footnotes

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Kentucky's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Mitch McConnell (R)

Rand Paul (R)

Representatives

District 1

James Comer (R)

District 2

Brett Guthrie (R)

District 3

Morgan McGarvey (D)

District 4

Thomas Massie (R)

District 5

Hal Rogers (R)

District 6

Andy Barr (R)

Republican Party (7)

Democratic Party (1)