Kentucky is one of the states where the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee will invest in an effort to flip the majority in the state House of Representatives from Democrat to Republican.

That is what Republican Legislative Campaign Committee Chairman Sam Smith and Republican State Leadership Committee President Matt Walter said in a conference call with reporters Thursday as the RLCC kicked off its 2014 national meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Walter said the RLCC sees 2014 as a year with “tremendous opportunities,” and he hopes to see Republicans claim majorities in more than 50 percent of legislative chambers across the nation.

Democrats had the opportunity to make headway in control of state legislative chambers in 2012, when President Barack Obama was re-elected.

“That was the opportunity, and they’ve missed it,” Walter said.

Smith said that a strong fundraising year will allow the RLCC to go on the offensive and invest in state Republican races.

“We’re in a real strong position to capture new chambers,” he said.

Walter classified Kentucky as an “Obama repudiation” state, where the president’s approval numbers are low and there is a high-profile U.S. Senate race at the top of the ticket between incumbent GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

“We have our eyes on Kentucky, one of the last remaining Democratic strongholds in the South,” he said.

Republicans will pick up a seat in a newly configured House District 71, where Rep. Jonathan Shell, R-Lancaster, who represents District 36, will run unopposed, Walter said.

Republicans also saw a victory in the state House in 2013, when Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, flipped a previously Democratic-held seat in a December special election and narrowed the Democratic majority to 54-46, he said.

RLCC has identified at least nine potential opportunity districts for targeting, including an open seat in House District 39, according to a May RLCC memo. 

The other seats are not specified.

Walter declined to specify how much money the RLCC intends to spend on House races in Kentucky.

“Kentucky will be on the receiving end of significant resources and sufficient resources to flip the chamber there,” he said.

The McConnell-Grimes race will have an impact on the RLCC strategy in Kentucky, Walter said.

Because the race is likely to be so expensive (collectively both candidates reported this week they had raised about $7 million in the last quarter), many voters will be tuned into the messages of McConnell and Grimes in November rather than those of state House candidates, he said. 

Subsequently, there will need to be a big emphasis on House candidates making direct contact with voters and forming personal connections with them, Walter said.

— Follow government beat writer Katie Brandenburg on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.