Republican state Sen. Whitney Westerfield said Thursday that he won’t seek re-election, and his decision immediately spurred an announcement from another Republican, Hopkinsville attorney Craig Richardson, who plans to seek the office.
Westerfield, 42, represents the 3rd Senate District comprised of Christian, Caldwell and Muhlenberg counties. He said he wants to spend more time with family. His wife, Amanda, and their children, who are ages 8 and 5, “have sacrificed greatly so that I can serve the people of my district, but they’ve sacrificed enough.”
Westerfield, who lives in the Fruit Hill community near Crofton, first won election when he defeated Democratic incumbent Joey Pendleton in 2012.
Westerfield has chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee since taking office in 2013. He also serves on the Senate committees for Natural Resources and Energy, for Agriculture, and for Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection, among other assignments. His third term concludes at the end of 2024.
“The end of my term is a long way off, but I hope to find ways to contribute to public policy in the areas I mentioned,” he told Hoptown Chronicle in an email. “Criminal justice and behavioral health — and particularly where those two worlds intersect — are mission critical in Kentucky and around the country.”
Westerfield has a law practice with the Fletcher Law Firm in Hopkinsville. Before he was a state senator, he was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Christian County for five years.
Asked if he would seek local elective office, Westerfield said, “I am not presently considering any elected office, in Christian County or anywhere else.”
Westerfield lost in a 2019 general election for Kentucky Supreme Court, when there was a special election to fill the unexpired term of Justice Bill Cunningham. He also filed to run for Kentucky attorney general that year but withdrew before the primary. His first statewide election was in 2015, when he faced Democrat Andy Beshear for attorney general in the general election and lost in a close race.
Westerfield said he is proud of his record in the Senate.
“I have relentlessly worked to protect unborn life, strengthen families, create an environment for record-breaking job growth, reduce our income tax, and slow or stop efforts to expand gaming,” he wrote in the statement he shared on social media. “More than anything else I have spent my entire tenure in the legislature working to improve public safety, making changes to strengthen the criminal justice system for offenders and victims alike.”
In particular, he said he’s proud to have sponsored Marsy’s Law, “amending Kentucky’s constitution to create fundamental rights for crime victims.”
In his announcement, Richardson said he will file his letter of intent with the Kentucky Secretary of State within a week.
Richardson said he is a Christian County native and a University of Kentucky graduate.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
