Kentucky Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman has announced she is running for governor.
The announcement was made on Monday on Coleman’s campaign website, “Jacqueline for Kentucky,” which launched Monday morning.
The 43-year-old Coleman, a Democrat originally from Danville, has served as Kentucky lieutenant governor under Gov. Andy Beshear since December 2019. Beshear is term-limited and cannot run for a third term.
Coleman is the first Democrat to announce a run for Kentucky governor in 2027. Senior advisor to Beshear, Rocky Adkins, is considered a possible Democratic candidate. He is a former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing the 99th District of the Kentucky House (Lewis, Rowan, Elliott counties) from 1987 to 2019
The only GOP candidate to announce a gubernatorial candidacy is Grayson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Hardin. He could be joined on the slate by current Secretary of State Michael Adams, U.S. Rep. James Comer and former Kentucky Senate majority leader, Damon Thayer, in running for governor in 2027.
The 2027 Primary Election is scheduled for May 18, while the General Election will be held on November 2.
The following is a statement on Coleman’s campaign website announcing her candidacy:
Jacqueline Coleman is a high school teacher and a basketball coach. She grew up on her family’s farm in Burgin, where her dad, a state representative, showed her early on that public service is about fighting for the people around you, not the politicians above you. Those values stuck.
As a coach, Jacqueline built programs from the ground up and led a team to the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen. She’ll tell you that coaching teaches you something you can’t learn anywhere else: every player has a role, every baby step counts, and no matter how good your team gets, there’s always more work to do. She met her husband, Chris, on the sidelines. He coached the boys’ team, she coached the girls’. And together they built a blended, basketball-loving family with their four kids: Will, Nate, Emma, and Evelynne.
For the past six and a half years, Jacqueline has served as Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor. Under the Beshear-Coleman Administration, Kentucky has shattered every economic development record in state history — $48 billion in new investment and nearly 70,000 jobs created.
But Jacqueline will be the first to tell you the numbers only tell part of the story. She’s spent those years waiving GED testing fees, securing $40 million for school-based mental health services, delivering paid family leave to state employees for the first time, and sitting at kitchen tables across Kentucky listening to what people actually need.
That’s exactly why she’s running for Governor. Kentucky’s economic momentum is real, it’s historic, and Jacqueline has no intention of letting up. And Jacqueline believes that here in Kentucky, we take care of business by taking care of people. The next chapter has to be about strengthening our schools, supporting Kentucky families, and making sure every single person in this commonwealth has a fair shot at the future we’re building together.
A coach’s job is to make every tomorrow better than today. That’s the job she’s running to do.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
