A Democrat and former public school teacher flipped a Republican-held seat in the Kentucky state House Tuesday in a district where President Donald Trump won by a 72 percent to 23 percent majority.
The Democrat, Linda Belcher, beat GOP challenger Rebecca Johnson, who is the widow of former Rep. Dan Johnson, who took his own life last year after denying molestation allegations made by a 17-year-old girl from a church where he served as pastor.
Belcher easily defeated Rebecca Johnson by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
Belcher had previously served as the representative for Kentucky’s 49th District for two terms, from 2009 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2017, until Dan Johnson won in 2016, The Huffington Post reported. Belcher first ran for the seat in 2009 as a widow, as well, after her husband Rep. Larry Belcher (D) died in a car crash in 2008.
Belcher’s Tuesday victory marks the 37th state legislative seat that Democrats have picked up since Trump was elected.
