Democrat state House Speaker Pro Tem Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, speaks to reporters Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, at the Warren County Courthouse after his 20th district win. (Miranda Pederson/photo@bgdailynews.com)

“Hard work” brought state House Speaker Pro Tem Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, yet another victory in the 20th District of the state House of Representatives, according to unofficial totals Tuesday.

“Hard work and lots and lots of friends who have stood by me,” Richards said of the re-election effort.

Richards’ assessment came the same evening he learned that state House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, had lost his re-election bid in eastern Kentucky. Other eastern and western Kentucky House seat losses will “flip” the state House to Republican control come January.

The GOP now holds for the first time in Kentucky history the state House, Senate and Governor’s Mansion simultaneously.

With 32 of 32 precincts reporting, Richards led Republican challenger Melinda Hill 8,561 to 6,140, in unofficial totals.

“I feel really good about it,” he said, adding that one of his jobs in the new session of the Kentucky General Assembly is to procure the $10 million in state money needed for the state veterans home planned for Bowling Green. Richards said opposition to the Bowling Green facility came from eastern Kentucky lawmakers who were defeated at the polls Tuesday.

“This is good news for the veterans nursing home,” Richards said.

Richards said Democrats losing in Johnson, Knott, and Floyd counties in the east and Daviess County in the west led to the transition of power to the Republicans. 

“Just about every Democrat in the mountains lost,” he said.

Hill said Tuesday that she is disappointed at the result of her race but elated that the Republicans took control of the state House.

“That was the goal,” she said of flipping the House. “I look forward to running for an office again, perhaps the statehouse in two years.”

Hill said she has always respected Richards

“The key was it was a majority Democrat district,” Hill said. “He’s a good man. He ran a good race. When I wake up in the morning, I will have no regrets. I enjoy serving the people.”

Richards said he expected the state House leadership would have issues election night with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s expected strong showing in Kentucky combined with Democrat standard bearer Hillary Clinton’s comments about the coal industry.

“We knew it was going to be tough over there,” Richards said of eastern Kentucky.

Richards said if the GOP took over control of the House, he would continue to work in Frankfort. “I’ll work with the Republicans,” he said.

“I applaud the work of all our candidates, who faced an intense barrage of negative advertising from out-of-state millionaires contributing large sums of cash against them,” said Rep. Sannie Overly, chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party, in a news release Tuesday night. “It was extremely difficult for any Kentucky Democrat to overcome the Trump tide at the top of the ticket. No matter what, Democrats will continue to fight for Kentucky families; specifically education, health care and jobs.”

Elsewhere in the region

Republican Steve Riley of Glasgow defeated Glasgow Democrat Danny Basil in the 23rd District race for Kentucky House of Representatives, which covers Barren County and a sliver of Warren County.

“I feel really good. These are time-consuming races,” he said. “I’m humbled by the support I got. I put a lot of time, a lot of work. I appreciate the support of this community.”

Basil conceded the race to Riley early in the evening before all of the vote totals came in.

Riley said he is “ready to roll up my sleeves for this district.”

“I feel sure we’ll have a lot of meetings in Frankfort,” he said. “I’m eager to learn how the process works.”

Job creation will be Riley’s main focus.

“We’ve got to get better paying jobs in the state,” he said. “I think there are some things we can do to make the state more business friendly.”

Three ways that can be done is by looking at legislation and workforce development and restructuring the state tax code, Riley said. Kentucky has become more of a white-collar state.

“I think it’s too antiquated for the times we live in,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

Riley steps into the post vacated by Democrat Johnny Bell, who decided not to seek re-election.

Basil conceded to Riley earlier in the evening.

“I was behind by a whole lot of votes,” he said. “At this point I think about half (of the votes) had been in and I carried one precinct. I had lost at least 12.”

Basil did not do well in the precincts where he thought he should have been the strongest, he said.

“I lost by 200 or 300 votes in the precinct where I went to school,” he said. “I was impressed by the size of it. I was really surprised, but you can imagine my disappointment.”

Basil said he “ran as good as you can do.” He doesn’t believe he will run again.

“I haven’t run in the last 26 years,” he said. “I don’t think I should.”

Incumbent falls in Logan

Republican Jason Petrie beat out Democrat incumbent Martha Jane King for the state House’s District 16 seat and Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Brownsville, won re-election in the 19th District.

Petrie said that when he first heard the results he was humbled and honored.

“People know what I stand for and they’re ready for us to move forward,” he said. “People are trusting me to take care of their vote and take care of business and that’s what I want to do.”

Petrie said the biggest turning point in his campaign was getting information out to the people. He said he thought the campaign went well and that they had a lot of people on the ground and contributions.

“It was a really good movement, not just a campaign,” he said.

King reached out to Petrie and wished him well. She said she was very proud of her campaign and even though she didn’t win the race she can hold her head up knowing she ran a clean race. 

“My future is wide open with many possibilities,” King said. “I plan to do many things in the future and running for another office is definitely in my future. Losing one race doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere.”

Petrie, an Elkton attorney, will represent voters in Logan, Todd and a portion of Warren County.

Meredith will remain in Frankfort as elections results show a wide margin win against opponent John Wayne Smith, a Smiths Grove Democrat. Meredith said he felt good about the race and he tried to represent the people and the values of the district. 

This was a repeat matchup of the 2014 election, with Meredith winning with a clear majority. His campaign was hoping to increase his margin with this year’s election because he received a very good response overall throughout his campaign.

“The most important thing is this is an historical day with the change in power. It will be the first time in history that Republicans control the House, Senate and the Governor’s office,” Meredith said. “We’re excited and ready to get to work to make Kentucky a better place.”

Meredith, whose district is comprised of Edmonson and part of Warren County, already has pre-filed two bills for the next General Assembly session with his number one priority being to secure state matching funds for the veterans nursing home in Bowling Green. His other priority is to make permanent annual incentive pay for police officers and firefighters.