Jonathan Shell, a former Republican state legislator, won an open seat on Tuesday to become Kentucky’s next agriculture commissioner, according to The Associated Press, easily defeating a Democrat who was running for office for the first time.
Mr. Shell’s victory over Sierra Enlow, an economic development consultant, underscored the strength of the Republican Party’s recent focus on winning down-ballot races in statewide elections, particularly in the South and the Midwest.
While Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, won re-election by beating Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Republicans captured the six other down-ballot races — including attorney general — by double-digit margins.
Mr. Shell succeeds Ryan F. Quarles, who served the maximum of two four-year terms. The victory extends a 20-year winning streak by Kentucky Republicans for the agriculture post, whose sizable portfolio includes regulating the sale of fuel and containing animal disease outbreaks.
Kentucky has hardly been unique: While Democrats once claimed all 12 elected agriculture seats as recently as two decades ago, Republicans now hold all of them.
Elected to the State House in his mid-20s, Mr. Shell, now 35, was once hailed by Senator Mitch McConnell as “one of the most important Republicans in Kentucky.”
Mr. Shell, a fifth-generation farmer, nationalized the agriculture contest, vowing to do battle “against radical liberal ideas that threaten our way of life” and to help defeat President Biden, whose voter approval ratings in Kentucky are down to 22 percent.
Ms. Enlow, also 35, grew up cutting tobacco on her family’s farm. Calling herself a pro-business Democrat, she had pledged to increase the pay of agriculture employees and to ensure a robust supply chain for medical marijuana, which was recently legalized.
But Mr. Shell’s party affiliation mattered most, said Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.
“These are not races that get a lot of attention — people default to party choice,” he said.