RUSSELL, Ky. (AP) – The job no one wants at the Marvin Meredith Youth Basketball League is the concession stand, where your back’s to the court, unable to see the kids play. But it’s perfect for Tony Quillen, a Kentucky House candidate with an Appalachian twang who has spent 18 years as one of the few Republicans on the Greenup County Fiscal Court.
He plops a bucket on the table, his name duct-taped to the side, and fills it with bubble gum and Tootsie rolls to be given away for a handshake and an introduction. “Right there is the centerpiece of my election,” he said, campaigning ahead of a March 8 special election for the state House of Representatives. “I have passed out over 500,000 pieces of bubble gum and Tootsie Rolls in 18 years.”
One Tootsie Roll at a time, Quillen has a far bigger quest now than winning local re-election. He’s helping fellow Republicans seeking to take down the nearly century-old Democratic majority in the state House of Representatives. He’s one of four GOP candidates in special elections, and if Republicans win all four, it would force a 50-50 tie in the last Southern legislative chamber still commanded by Democrats.
The Kentucky House is a throwback to a Democratic Party hard to find these days: conservative, mostly rural Democrats who preach small government and state’s rights. It’s difficult to distinguish now between Kentucky Democratic and Republican candidates, with both claiming the “pro-family” and “pro-business” mantles.
Regardless of the results on Tuesday, all 100 House seats are up for re-election in November.