Becoming an Informed Voter

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Becoming an Informed Voter
Part One
My congressional district is the 5th District Pikeville, Kentucky, which is currently represented by Hal, Rogers. The congressional district is considered to be one of the ancestrally Republican regions. The 5th district is located in the southern region of Kentucky. It stretches inside the state and encompasses cities Somerset, Morehead, and Hazard. The highest percentage of the people living in the region consists of white Americans according to the 2010 U.S Census (Ballotpedia N.p). Considering the recent political history, The 5th Congressional district held an election on 4th November 2014 for the House of Representatives. Hal Rogers defeated Kenneth Stepp in that election. The congressman currently serves in different positions in the Congress. He is in his 17th term in Congress, representing the people of eastern and southern Kentucky. He is known for being the longest-serving Kentucky’s Republican who has ever been elected to the federal office. He has a reputation for fighting for the interest of the region and also listening to the constituents. Rogers has largely focused on job creation, economic development, preservation of natural treasures of Appalachia and fighting illegal drug use among others. He is the chairman of the “House Appropriation Committee,” and his focus has been on reducing the government’s scope. He has been conducting oversight role in the federal spending, restoring transparency and fiscal discipline in the budget process and conducting rigorous oversight of the federal agencies.

To answer the question of how the state and congressional district voted in recent presidential and also congressional elections, I would say that majority voted for Republican Candidates. Most people identified with the Republican Party after the hostilities from the Civil War ceased. The region largely supported the Union even during the Civil War. The district is known for s strong Republican heritage because the Republicans have represented it consistently in Congress since 1963. It is one of the 108 districts which intersect with Pivot Counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 after significantly voting President Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Mr. Rogers was the incumbent and was first elected in the year 1980 on a Republican ticket. He won the primaries unopposed and got re-elected with 78% of the votes in 2012 (Ballotpedia N.p). A primary election is a state-level election that is conducted before the general election. The Congressional district is represented currently by Mr. Rogers who is the Kentucky delegation’s dean.
The District can be considered to be “leaning” Republican. Considering the recent and past elections, the region has largely voted for Republican candidates, including the Congressman who has been for seventeen terms on a Republican ticket. Mr. Rogers was born and raised Rural Kentucky and represents one of the impoverished districts in the country. As a result of that, Kentucky is one of the states that have mostly benefited from healthcare reforms that were brought about through “Affordable Care Act.” For instance, in the 5th Congressional District, more than eighty thousand people received health coverage in 2015. 314,923 people, including children, seniors and physically challenged individuals are covered by Medicaid in the district (Cutler 337). However, the implementation of American Health Care Act is poised to cause great harm to the 5th Congressional District. In other words, the district has a lot to lose in the event of harmful changes which has been proposed under the AHCA. It is expected that it may force Kentucky to eliminate medical coverage for certain people, cut the reimbursement to providers or reduce benefits, making healthcare harder to access. The proposed Act will strip away protections considering its pre-existing conditions. All the beneficiaries of Medicaid are at great risk of being stripped of the benefits and accesses. Consequently, the older people and low-income individuals may receive less support to enable them to buy private coverage.
Considering Kentucky’s Fifth District, the political parties cannot be considered to be relatively even. On the contrary, The Republican Party dominates the District as mentioned earlier. The district has been electing Republican candidates since 1963 which is a clear indication is the dominant party in the region. The district was solidly Republican district from 1896 to 1928 considering the presidential voting. However, from 1932 to 2004, it shifted to Democratic Party. Since 2004, the district has shifted solidly towards the Republican Party.
Kentucky’s 5th District has a long history of backing one party when it comes to Congressional elections. The district has always supported Republican candidates overwhelmingly when it comes to Congressional elections. It has consistent since 1963, voting for a Republican Party in the Congress election. However, this has not been the case when it comes to presidential elections. As much as the region has always voted Republican candidates, there are certain instances in the recent years where the district has largely voted for Democratic Candidates. For instance, the region largely voted for President Obama who was a Democrat. It implies that it has been changing when it comes to presidential elections.
Part Two
Hal Rogers is the Congressional representative for Kentucky’s Fifth District while Mitch McConnell is one of the senators of Kentucky State. The leaders have different stories about how they came to power. Considering Hal Rogers, he was a lawyer in private practice before he was elected to serve as the “Commonwealth Attorney for Rockcastle” and Pulaski counties which are located in Kentucky. He held that office from 1969 to 1980 when he got elected to the Congress. Hal Rogers was the Republican nominee for Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor in 1979. Louie Nunn who was the former governor of Kentucky was his rival. He lost the election to Martha Layne who was a Democratic nominee. However, in 1980, Tim Carter who was the incumbent Congressman of the 5th district decided to retire. Hal Rogers won the primaries of the Republican Party. He got elected to Congress with 67 percent of the votes. Since then he has always won the election with at least 65% votes except in 1992 when he beat John Doug by 55-45% (Cutler 337). Hal Rogers is known for being the longest-serving Congressman and a Republican to be elected to a federal office. He has served as a delegate to various conventions of the Party.
In 1964, McConnell started working for Senator John Cooper as an intern. It is believed that his time with Cooper also inspired him to eventually run for the Senate. He later became an assistant to Senator Marlow and Deputy Assistant to Attorney General during the regime of President Gerald. He worked alongside Justice Antonin and in 1977; he got elected as the Jefferson County executive/Judge which was the top political office in the county. He ran for Senate in 1984 Walter Huddleston who was the two-term Democratic incumbent and was lucky to win the hotly contested election. The election was too competitive, but he won by a thin margin of only 5,200 valid votes out of over 1.8 million votes that were cast. He was the only Republican Senate candidate that emerged victorious that year in spite of the landslide victory for Ronald Reagan in the presidential election. It is argued that part of the Senator’s success resulted from a television campaign series known as “Where’s Dee.” The series featured some bloodhounds who were trying to find Huddleston. It implied that the attendance record of Huddleston in the Senate insignificant. He had television ads and bumper stickers asking voters to “Switch to Mitch.” However, he has been found repeatedly to have the lowest state approval rating among all the sitting senators.
There are various interest groups such as ADA, ACLU, ACU, CC, and FRC, who normally rate various political leaders. For instance, Senator McConnell and Congressman Rogers have rated differently by Family Research Council as far as approval rating is concerned. Hal Rogers has been awarded a rating of 92% while Senator Mitch McConnell has been awarded a rating of 100% according to Family Research Council (Perkins and Mackey 5). The scores represent a cross-section of issues that affect the family. The recorded scores reflect the issues that took place in the Senate and the House of Representatives during the “second Session of the 108th Congress.” It also shows the manner in which leaders voted on certain critical issues that involve the family. The Family Research Council also has in the forefront of various significant legislative victories which relate to pro-life issues. For instance, Congress passed legislation that recognizes the two victims, the unborn child, and the mother, in crimes against expectant mothers.
Based on the ratings, I would classify the senator and representative as conservatives. According to American for Democratic Action, Hal Rogers was rated 0% (“The Voter’s Self Defense System” N.p). Most ratings have been given in percentage format or a scale of 100. Some interest groups also present ratings in the form of survey results or a letter grade. When the ratings are given on a scale of 100, the higher the score of the leader, the more often the leader will be on the side of interest groups in fighting for certain key issues. For instance, in the case of American for Democratic Action, the issue here is the social liberal. The interest group has given a rating him a rating of 0% which means Hal Rogers does not support at all whatever they are striving to achieve. Mitch McConnell has also been given a rating of 5% on the same issue which shows that he doesn’t support what the interest group stands are fighting to achieve. It is vital to note that the special groups’ ratings do not often non-partisan stances. Consequently, some groups also pick votes which tend to favor elected leaders of a particular party instead of focusing on issues objectively. However, in the case of Family Research Council, the issue was a “friend of the family.” Both leaders were rated highly which shows that both leaders are on the same side with interest group regarding the issues that affect the family.
Work Cited
Ballotpedia. “Kentucky’s 5Th Congressional District Election, 2016 – Ballotpedia.” Ballotpedia.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2018.
Cutler, David M. “From The Affordable Care Act To Affordable Care.” JAMA 314.4 (2015): 337. Web.
“The Voter’s Self Defense System.” Vote Smart. N.p., 2016. Web. 2 Feb. 2018.
Perkins, Tony, and Connie Mackey. “Family Research Council Action: Vote Scorecard.” 1.1 (2017): 5. Print.