By Steve Oldfield
NKyTribune staff writer
After the most expensive house primary in U.S. history that saw the defeat of incumbent Thomas Massie, voters in the fourth congressional district have a choice of three candidates on the ballot.
All of them have a key characteristic in common that appeals to a growing number of voters in Kentucky and across the country: the candidates aren’t career politicians.
None of them are even lawyers, while lawmakers with that occupation make up one third of the House members and half of all U.S. senators. The 4th District candidates are simply concerned citizens who believe it’s their civic duty to represent Kentucky in Congress.
The Tribune talked with some of the most enthusiastic and active supporters of the democrat, libertarian, and republican candidates.
“I really believe in Melissa Strange,” said Carol Ernst, a retired nurse living in Alexandria. “I’ve never worked so hard for a candidate in my life.”
“There’s no way I could have done this campaign without the support of Carol, her husband, Max and their daughter, Liz,” Strange said. “This is my first campaign. The Ernsts have hosted events, rallied volunteers and even made incredible meals for me and my family to make sure we are eating while I travel all over the district.”
Ernst voted for Strange in the Democrat Primary, where the candidate scored about 72-percent of the vote, defeating Jesse Brewer.
“What I like so much about Melissa is that she is very down to earth and she listens,” Ernst said. “She’s concerned about affordability and gas prices.”
Strange, who is 50 years old, has nearly 30 years of experience working in food manufacturing and supply chain management. Ernst also feels like the Villa Hills native will have Northern Kentucky’s interests in mind if Strange gets to work in Washington.
“We haven’t had a U.S. representative in Congress from Campbell, Kenton or Boone counties in 25 years,” Ernst said. “Our area has exploded in that time. And we have the most population of the district, but we’re never represented.”
Both Strange and 39-year-old Libertarian candidate Jeremy Todd are from Kenton County.
Todd lives in Independence while Republican Ed Gallrein, 69, lives on a farm in Shelby County, nearly 90 miles from Covington.
“I just feel like we need representation from Northern Kentucky,” Ernst said.
She has met Todd and believes he and Strange have more in common than just where they live.
“He’s a super nice guy,” Ernst said. She believes Todd and Strange are committed to fighting corruption in Washington. “The rich keep getting richer. As for Gallrein, he’s bought and paid for by a billionaire and he’s just going to be a ‘yes’ man to Trump. He's not going to care what the rest of us think.”
“There’s a lot of Trump policies that he backs, but one of the things I know is Gallrein’s not a puppet to the president,” said Paul Kunkel, a retired Newport police captain and marine who allowed the Republican candidate to place a large campaign sign outside Kunkel’s home in Fort Thomas.
It’s Gallrein’s second campaign. He lost his bid for a state senate seat in the Republican primary in 2025.
“Gallrein’s a farmer, and if you get to know this guy, you realize he’s had to make tough decisions in his lifetime,” Kunkel said. Farmers make decisions to survive and he understands how economics works more than anyone does because keeping a farm going is probably one of the hardest things you can do.”
Jeremy Todd supporter Rachael Livingston Yamanoha was attracted to the Libertarian candidate’s background in finance and banking and believes he understands the struggle many northern Kentuckians face trying to make ends meet.
“He’s not bought and paid for by any lobby or foreign interests. So he owes nobody. He’s not in this for himself. He’s stepping in the gap for Massey.”
“Rachael volunteered for Michael Farris and Thomas Massie in the primaries and immediately showed up to help gather signatures for our campaign,” Todd said. “Knowing we had community leaders like her willing to break with the party is when I knew we had something serious.”
Yamanoha and her husband, Rudy, are semi-retired small business owners in Oldham County. She works in alternative medicine and he runs a security company.
She says they’ve gravitated to the Libertarian party after being dissatisfied with the division and performance of democrat and republican leaders.
“They’re basically a uni-party,” she said. “As a libertarian, Jeremy’s not just some pot-smoking guy saying ‘You do you and leave me alone.’ He’s extremely articulate and accomplished.”
Yamanoha also worked for 15 years as a victim witness advocate in a district attorney’s office. She supported Massey’s push to release the entire Epstein files.
Todd agrees with Massey and Strange also lists a call to release and prosecute on her campaign website.
Strange and Todd disagree on another hotbed issue: abortion. Strange supports what she calls “reproductive rights” while Todd considers himself a “pro-life” Libertarian. Gallrein has said he is also against abortion but he didn’t fill out a candidate questionnaire by Kentucky’s Right to Life, drawing some criticism.
“Todd’s more conservative than Gallrein,” Yamanoha said.
She has something in common with Kunkel. They both have voted for Massey in the past. “I was a registered Libertarian but when I saw Trump go after him, I switched to Republican so I could vote for Massey in the primary,” Yamanoha said. “I volunteered for his campaign.” When Massey lost, she switched her allegiance from the Republican party to Libertarian Todd.
“Gallrein won’t do a debate. He hasn’t really campaigned. After four years of Republicans bashing Biden for his basement campaign, I don’t know how any Republican in Kentucky can vote for Gallrein.”
Kunkel met the dairy farmer-turned-Congressional candidate at an event for veterans at a coffee shop in Fort Thomas. Kunkel ended up voting for Gallrein in the primary.
He ultimately defeated Massey with 55-percent of the vote compared to the incumbent’s 45-percent.
“I’ve had many conversations with Massey. He’s probably one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and I really liked listening to him,” Kunkel said. “He was so smart. That’s all I can say, but I believe there was time for a change.”
When Massey lost, Yamanoha turned to Massey supporter-turned-candidate, Todd.
“Like Massey, Todd knows the constitution,” Yamanoha said. “He knows what he’s talking about and that’s more than can say for Gallrein or Melissa.”
Ernst had decided she would support Strange even if Massey had won the primary.
“I’m old enough to remember when it really didn’t matter what party you belong to, if you felt it was right for the country, that’s how you voted. And that’s how legislation was passed,” she said. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s just straight party line, including the democrats. I believe Strange really wants to bring those two sides together again and work with the republicans on legislation that needs to be passed.”
She and Yamanoha believe that Todd would be a step in that direction as well.
Kunkel agrees that there needs to be more bridge building in Washington – but he’s also worried about the bridge getting blown up altogether. He believes Gallrein’s military background will help America to become stronger.
“These are dangerous times in the world,” Kunkel said. “Gallrein’s a retired Navy SEAL captain and he knows how the world works. He’s an American son and I’ll vote for an American son any day of the week.”
Kunkel will be casting that vote Tuesday in an election that President Trump told Northern Kentuckians during his recent rally is “the most important mid-term in the history of our country.”
Ernst agrees the election is important and she thinks Strange is the candidate who can bring change in Washington. “Melissa wants to work with the Republicans to get things done,” Ernst said.
Yamanoha has made that same observation about the two major parties but she thinks a Libertarian is the answer.
“Jeremy and I are for small government and less intrusion on the individual and both the democrats and republicans are going in the opposite direction.”
No matter where the election ends up, one of the citizen candidates running for Congress in the 4th district will be making history as a newcomer.
(Note: Independent candidate Peter H. Williams is asking voters to write-in his name on the ballot. Ed Gallrein’s campaign did not return requests for a comment).