By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
While several lawmakers from both the Kentucky House and Senate are retiring at the end of the year, without a doubt the most high-profile retirement is that of Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer.
The Georgetown Republican has served in the Senate since winning a special election in 2003 and has served as Majority Leader for more than a decade. His 17th Senate District includes Grant and Scott counties and portions of Fayette and Kenton counties.
Thayer told Kentucky Today he never thought he’d spend 21 years in the Senate. “As a matter of fact, I was surprised that I lasted long enough for both of my children to be able to vote for me in the last election. My first day here, I remember dropping my son off at pre-school or kindergarten, and my daughter was only one.”
He says there have been several changes since he first came to Frankfort. One of them occurred following the so-called Trump Tsunami in the 2016 election, when Republicans won a supermajority in the House and Senate, effective in January 2017.
“We were finally able to pass conservative legislation that heretofore we could just make a statement because the Democrats would just kill it in the House. That’s probably the biggest change that we’ve been able to pass a lot of good bills and change the trajectory of Kentucky.”
It started the first week in 2017, when lawmakers held a rare Saturday session to take action on some of their long-time desires. “Right-to-Work, the repeal of prevailing wage, we did a big pro-life bill… It was a great start, that’s for sure. Since then, the three tax cuts, reforms to worker comp and unemployment insurance, welfare reform. It’s been a great run.”
While Thayer is retiring from the Senate, he says he’ll still have a lot on his plate in the future.