By Linda Blackford | Editor
Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District is like a political mirage – people see what they want to see. For Democrats, it’s an attainable goal with Trump’s numbers sinking and a new face like Zach Dembo. For Republicans, it’s all about the voters, who sent Rep. Andy Barr to Washington seven times. Reporter McKenna Horsley takes a look at the state of the race.
We’ve also got some themed work today on many people’s favorite topic of data centers, including some really interesting commentary from longtime Appalachian journalist James Branscome, who has some great advice for communities: Get a data center if you want but set higher terms than the coal industry got.
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Republican Ralph Alvarado, left, and Democrat Zach Dembo, right, are running in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District. (Photos provided by campaigns)
By McKenna Horsley
The November election between Dembo, 40, a former federal prosecutor and veteran, and Ralph Alvarado, 56, a doctor and former state senator, is about 40 days away. Both candidates launched their first general election ads the week after Labor Day, and PACs are funding ads — one aligned with Gov. Andy Beshear and one aligned with President Donald Trump.
Mary DeLima, 65, and her dog Bo wait for the Burgin city council meeting to start on Tuesday. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)
By Liam Niemeyer
Republican Louisville Metro Council member Anthony Piagentini interrupted a committee meeting last week because he wanted someone to stop the blaring noise he heard from the gallery.
That blaring noise was the recorded sound of a data center coming from the phone from a member of the group No Data Center 502, according to group organizer Danielle Ray.
Alabamans hold up signs that read “No Data Center” at a County Commission meeting on Aug. 24, 2026, in Hayneville, Alabama, in the Lowndes County Courthouse. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
By David Lightman
WASHINGTON — The rare 2026 issue that draws huge support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress is the same one that’s mobilized many Americans: restrictions on giant data centers.
his map shows proposed hyperscale data centers across Kentucky. (Lantern Screenshot)
COMMENTARY
By James Branscome
For an Eastern Kentucky county that has watched its coal severance money vanish, that is the first serious new tax base anyone has offered in a generation. It is worth having, and worth pricing correctly. The coalfields once gave away their minerals for a dollar an acre to people who knew exactly what they were worth.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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