STEVE BITTENBENDER

The Center Square

Kentucky State Rep. Savannah Maddox became the latest Republican and the first woman to throw her hat in the ring for next year’s gubernatorial election.

The Dry Ridge resident released a video Monday announcing what many had already expected. She also had promoted a kickoff event she held Monday night in Northern Kentucky for nearly two weeks.

Joined by supporters in Burlington, Maddox made it clear she would look to shake up the Republican Party with her campaign, which she said would focus on preventing the “woke progressive ideology” from undercutting traditional values and individual liberties.

“We are going to give the citizens of Kentucky in real choice in this primary,” she told the crowd at the Little Britain Carriage House in a speech also broadcast on her campaign’s Facebook site. “We can maintain the status quo of being disappointed by moderate Republicans who straddle the fence, or we can choose an authentic conservative who has a proven track record of fighting every day for our freedoms.”

Maddox is tied closely with a group of highly conservative Republicans in Northern Kentucky who helped three challengers score primary victories last month over established incumbents.

Maddox joins a crowded GOP field for next May’s primary. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Agriculture Commission Ryan Quarles and Auditor Mike Harmon have already announced.

Maddox, who lives on a farm with her husband and their two kids, was first elected to the General Assembly in 2018. If elected as governor, she would be the second woman to hold the office in Kentucky. Martha Layne Collins, a Democrat, served from 1983 to 1987.