Raque Adams Files for State Senate

Former Louisville Metro Councilwoman and current state Rep. Julie Raque, R-Louisville, has filed to run for the state Senate in a newly-drawn district.The seat is currently held by retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, but the controversial redistricting map approved by the General Assembly would have moved him out of the area by year's end.Adams says there are issues the Senate deals with that the House does not, and she is anxious to switch chambers and take on tax reform."We have to have tax modernization and we have to be aggressive with any economic development opportunities. We got to get jobs in this state. I say selfishly, I really want my kids to be able to live, work and be happy here in Kentucky and I want to participate in making this state more aggressive economically," she says.State lawmakers pushed the 19th District from the Highlands through the East End and connected it to Oldham County. The change makes the once Democratic lock a more favorable gain for a Republican in the GOP-controlled state Senate.Adams says the district's change didn’t hurt her decision."The precincts and the areas they do trend Republican, so that was appealing to me in looking at it. All the lines are reconfigured now and I figured in politics an open seat is very attractive, so I just thought I would throw my hat into the ring and try it out," she says.The new map also means Louisville Democrat Shawn Reilly, who announced his candidacy in December, has been drawn out of the district. The anti-toll activists told supporter he will not run in the new district.During this year's legislative session, Adams co-sponsored a bipartisan bill with a Democratic lawmaker that would ban smoking in public places and places of employment statewide.