Unlike federal judges, who are usually appointed, justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the electorate in non-partisan elections.

The state is divided into six congressional districts, represented by Republicans James Comer (1st), Brett Guthrie (2nd), Thomas Massie (4th), Hal Rogers (5th), and Andy Barr (6th), and Democrat Morgan McGarvey (3rd).

Unless they have completed a police academy elsewhere, these officers must complete Police Officer Professional Standards (POPS) training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

In the 2005 case of McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a display of the Ten Commandments in the Whitley City courthouse of McCreary County was unconstitutional.

[17] Later that year, Judge Richard Fred Suhrheinrich, writing for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County, wrote that a display including the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, The Star-Spangled Banner, and the national motto could be erected in the Mercer County courthouse.

[18] Kentucky has also been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws, especially compared to surrounding states.

During the Civil War, the southeastern part of the state aligned with the Union and tended to support Republican candidates thereafter, while the central and western portions remained heavily Democratic even into the following decades.

Since 1952, voters in the Commonwealth supported the three Democratic candidates elected to the White House, all from Southern states: Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas in 1964, Jimmy Carter from Georgia in 1976, and Bill Clinton from Arkansas in 1992 and 1996.

But by the 21st century, the state had become a Republican stronghold in federal elections, supporting that party's presidential candidates by double-digit margins since 2000.

At the same time, voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions.

Mirroring the broader national partisan realignment, Kentucky's Democratic Party in the 21st century primarily consists of liberal whites, African-Americans, and other racial minorities.

[21] Despite the Democratic voter registration advantage, the state has elected Republican candidates for federal office routinely since the beginning of the 21st century.