Compton to chair state Democratic Rural Council
Published 10:34 am Friday, January 17, 2025
Warren East High School music teacher and Plum Springs commissioner William Dakota Compton has been selected as the new chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party’s Rural Council, a body that seeks to inform and recruit voters in rural areas statewide.
“We’re going to work on reaching rural voters all across Kentucky, not just one specific area,” Compton said. “In the last election, there were 44 state house seats that didn’t have a Democratic candidate (and) eight of the 19 Senate seats that were up for election did not have a Democratic candidate either, and so we’re going to really be working on reaching voters.”
Compton has been active in Kentucky politics for some time, previously running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 and 2024, but was beaten both times by recurring candidate Hank Linderman.
Presently, Compton serves as a commissioner on the Plum Springs City Commission.
He said doing the kind of outreach to voters that KDP is eyeing is more difficult in rural areas, since everyone lives farther apart from one another than in urban areas like Louisville or Bowling Green.
“It has been a challenge for the Democratic party reaching these voters,” Compton said. “We have seen Democratic parties in many of the counties starting to kind of dwindle away because of that.”
To combat this, the council is planning to have a presence at different community events across the state, with Compton citing Bowling Green’s annual Duncan Hines Days as an example.
“I’m going to be out at that festival talking to people, talking to voters throughout the day, and being out in the community letting people know that … we’re here to give you someone who is going to fight for the people of Kentucky,” he said.
Compton said he has heard several issues expressed to him by rural voters, chief among which is healthcare access and costs.
“I’ve talked to people … when I ran for US Congress (about) how they would get an ache or pain that they’re worried about, and especially younger voters that are like, ‘oh, I have this pain over here, but I’m afraid to go to the hospital, because I know that that’s going to cost me,’ ” he said. “‘Do I need to pay that, or do I need to use that money to put food on the table for my children.’ ”
Compton said he is excited about entering the role of chair and looking forward to working with voters across the state.
“I am in complete gratitude of the former chair and vice chair, Hank Linderman and Hildegard Pyle, for all that they’ve done to start this council and to get this foundation created,” he said.
Compton will assume the role on Feb. 13.