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Republican · Kentucky Senate, district 38

Serving since Jan 28, 2020KY 2025–26 session

Portrait of Mike Nemes, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
100%
of itemized money from Kentucky donors, in the top quarter of State Senate Republicans

100% of the itemized money from individuals in the 2026 cycle came from donors with an address in Kentucky. Ranks 136th of 860, where 1st is the highest share. 46 itemized donors.

Only donors who give more than $200 are reported with an address, so this is the share of that itemized money from donors living in Kentucky, ranked among State Senate Republicans. Small gifts are not counted either way. Candidates running statewide or for federal office often draw more money from out of state.

At a glance

5 measures against State Senate Republicans. Nemes voted against the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans 11 times; party unity 94.8%, in the bottom quarter of the Kentucky Senate (average 95.3%). Nemes sits at +0.44 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 62% of State Senate Republicans.

The measures on which Nemes sits furthest from the middle of State Senate Republicans, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.

From Kentucky, 2026

100%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 136th of 860 State Senate Republicans

Attendance

99.4%

Kentucky Senate average 97.0% · ranks 8th of 38 · 702 roll calls

Party unity

94.8%

Kentucky Senate average 95.3% · ranks 30th of 38 · 11 votes against the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans

CSIP ideology

+0.44

More conservative than 62% of State Senate Republicans · ± 0.06

Itemized, 2026

$44.2K

State Senate Republicans’ median $46.2K · ranks 479th of 936

Statements

No statements in this window

Peer group: State Senate Republicans. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Nemes, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Nemes is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Nemes says

No statements for the KY 2025–26 session.No classified statements (posts, press releases, newsletters, floor speeches) in this time window.

Back to topNext: Policy

Policy

No policy statements for the KY 2025–26 session.No classified statements (posts, press releases, newsletters, floor speeches) in this time window.

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Nemes sits at +0.44 on the CSIP scale, right of 0, more conservative than 62% of State Senate Republicans. Approximate range +0.37 to +0.50, which understates the uncertainty; from 174 donors and 315 roll calls.

CSIP, the lab’s Common-Space Ideal Point, places every official, federal and state, on one left–right scale, estimated from roll-call votes, who gives money to whom, and the text of statements. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it; 0 is the centre of the scale, not a definition of “moderate”.

+0.44

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range +0.37 to +0.50. From 174 donors and 315 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Nemes +0.4State Senate Republicans +0.4Kentucky Senate +0.5All State Senate +0.1

The outlined dot is Nemes, coloured by its side of 0 (blue left, red right, deeper further out); the bar through it is the approximate range (±1.96 standard errors), which understates the uncertainty; the grey ticks below are the medians of Nemes’s groups. 0 is the centre of the scale, not “moderate” by definition.

What this means, and what it doesn’t

The score summarises how an official votes, who funds them and how they talk, relative to everyone else. It does not grade positions as good or bad, and two officials with the same score can differ on any single issue. The ± range is 1.96 standard errors, which understates the uncertainty: scores whose ranges overlap may not differ at all, and even scores whose ranges do not overlap may not differ.

Where Nemes sits

Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale

−2.0−1.00.0+1.0+2.0← More liberalMore conservative →State Senate Republicansmedian +0.4Nemes +0.4Kentucky Senatemedian +0.5All State Senatemedian +0.1
Show the data
Nemes's CSIP score of +0.44 placed against State Senate Republicans, Kentucky Senate, All State Senate.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Nemes
State Senate Republicans1083+0.462%
Kentucky Senate38+0.547%
All State Senate1909+0.178%
How to read the strips

Every small dot is one official on the same scale, coloured by its own score (blue left of 0, red right of 0, grey at 0, deeper further out) and spread up and down only to keep dots apart; where a group is crowded the dots overlap, and darker patches mean more officials. The large outlined dot is Nemes in every row; the rule is each group’s median. The table under the figure gives the share of each group to the left of Nemes.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Nemes reported $44.2K in the 2026 cycle, close to the State Senate Republicans’ median of $46.2K. State filings report no small-donation total. 100% of itemized individual money came from Kentucky.

Campaign money from state campaign-finance filings, as aggregates only; the lab never shows an individual donor. Campaigns must report by name every person who gives them more than $200 in a cycle (“itemized”); smaller gifts are reported only as one total (“unitemized”), so donor counts, donor states, employers and occupations describe itemized donors only. State filings report no small-gift total, so these figures add up itemized contributions only.

Election cycle
$44.2K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 46 itemized donors. State Senate Republicans’ median $46.2K.

Where the money came from

Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.

Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)Individuals (itemized): $17.3K (39.2%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)PACs and other committees: $26.8K (60.8%)
  • Individuals (itemized)39 squares$17.3K
  • PACs and other committees61 squares$26.8K
Show the data
Sources of Nemes's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$17.3K39.2%
PACs and other committees$26.8K60.8%
What this means, and what it doesn’t

Totals say how much a campaign took in, not how it was spent, and they rise sharply when a seat is up for election; compare cycles with that in mind.

Receipts by cycle

Itemized contributions, 2020 to 2026. The grey line is the State Senate Republicans’ median for 2026.

2020 cycle: $108.8K$108.8K20202022 cycle: $46.2K$46.2K20222024 cycle: $3,750$3,75020242026 cycle: $44.2K$44.2K2026State Senate Republicans median $46.2K
Show the data
Nemes's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State Senate Republicans median.
ItemValue
2020 cycle$108.8K
2022 cycle$46.2K
2024 cycle$3,750
2026 cycle$44.2K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 100% came from Kentucky.

  1. Kentucky$17.3K

Small donations

State filings report no total for small gifts.

Not reported in state filings.

Where itemized donors live

Individuals who gave more than $200, by donor state

Alaska: no dataAKMaine: no dataMEVermont: no dataVTNew Hampshire: no dataNHWashington: no dataWAIdaho: no dataIDMontana: no dataMTNorth Dakota: no dataNDMinnesota: no dataMNIllinois: no dataILWisconsin: no dataWIMichigan: no dataMINew York: no dataNYRhode Island: no dataRIMassachusetts: no dataMAOregon: no dataORNevada: no dataNVWyoming: no dataWYSouth Dakota: no dataSDIowa: no dataIAIndiana: no dataINOhio: no dataOHPennsylvania: no dataPANew Jersey: no dataNJConnecticut: no dataCTCalifornia: no dataCAUtah: no dataUTColorado: no dataCONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: $17.3KKYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: no dataVAMaryland: no dataMDDelaware: no dataDEArizona: no dataAZNew Mexico: no dataNMKansas: no dataKSArkansas: no dataARTennessee: no dataTNNorth Carolina: no dataNCSouth Carolina: no dataSCDistrict of Columbia: no dataDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: no dataMSAlabama: no dataALGeorgia: no dataGAHawaii: no dataHITexas: no dataTXFlorida: no dataFL
Show the data
Nemes's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
Kentucky$17.3K
AlaskaNo data
MaineNo data
VermontNo data
New HampshireNo data
WashingtonNo data
IdahoNo data
MontanaNo data
North DakotaNo data
MinnesotaNo data
IllinoisNo data
WisconsinNo data
MichiganNo data
New YorkNo data
Rhode IslandNo data
MassachusettsNo data
OregonNo data
NevadaNo data
WyomingNo data
South DakotaNo data
IowaNo data
IndianaNo data
OhioNo data
PennsylvaniaNo data
New JerseyNo data
ConnecticutNo data
CaliforniaNo data
UtahNo data
ColoradoNo data
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
West VirginiaNo data
VirginiaNo data
MarylandNo data
DelawareNo data
ArizonaNo data
New MexicoNo data
KansasNo data
ArkansasNo data
TennesseeNo data
North CarolinaNo data
South CarolinaNo data
District of ColumbiaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
MississippiNo data
AlabamaNo data
GeorgiaNo data
HawaiiNo data
TexasNo data
FloridaNo data
46

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

100%

from Kentucky

Of itemized individual dollars

How to read the map

Every state the same size. Darker states gave more itemized money; hatched states had no itemized donors; the outlined state is Kentucky. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. RETIRED$8,214 20 donors
  2. STATE REPRESENTATIVE$600 4 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. KHA KENTUCKY HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION$2,500
  2. CHARTER SPECTRUM EMPLOYEE PAC$2,200
  3. PLUMBERS & PIPEFITTERS LOCAL 502$2,200
  4. THE BLUEGRASS COMMITTEE$2,200
  5. KENTUCKY BANKERS COMMITTEE$2,000

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE$979 3 donors
  2. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY$700 4 donors

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Nemes voted with the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans on 94.8% of party-line votes and missed 0.6% of 702 roll calls. Kentucky Senate on average: 95.3% party unity, 97.0% attendance. Across all roll calls, Nemes voted against the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans 11 times.

702 roll calls Nemes could vote on in the KY 2025–26 session, compared with Kentucky Senate. Attendance is the share with a vote recorded. Party unity counts only party-line roll calls, where most Democrats and most Republicans voted on opposite sides, and is the share of those where Nemes voted with the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

11

votes against the majority of Kentucky Senate Republicans

Party unity 94.8%, Kentucky Senate average 95.3%, ranks 30th of 38. 702 roll calls in the KY 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

The thick bar is Nemes, the thin grey bar the Kentucky Senate average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.

80%100%
Nemes
Peers
Rank
Attendance
99.4%
97.0%
8th of 38
Party unity
94.8%
95.3%
30th of 38
Show the data
Nemes's attendance and party unity against Kentucky Senate.
RowNemesPeers
Attendance99.4%97.0%
Party unity94.8%95.3%
What this means, and what it doesn’t

A missed roll call has many causes, from illness to campaigning, so attendance says how often, not why. A vote against the majority can be on procedure as well as substance, and many fall on roll calls where both parties split; the key votes below show the ones that decided something.

Key votes

25 roll calls the lab flagged as key in the KY 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Mar 28, 2025
HB 664
AN ACT relating to the operation of a motor vehicle and declaring an emergency.
PASS HB 664 W/ scs1 sfa2 sfta2
YeaWith majoritypassD 6–0 · R 23–7Democrats 6 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 23 yea, 7 naybecame law · party crossover
Mar 28, 2025
HB 48
AN ACT relating to education.
Final Passage
YeaWith majoritypassD 18–1 · R 77–0Democrats 18 yea, 1 nay; Republicans 77 yea, 0 naybecame law
Mar 28, 2025
SB 181
AN ACT relating to children.
Pass
YeaWith majoritypassD 21–0 · R 78–0Democrats 21 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 78 yea, 0 naybecame law · much discussed
Mar 28, 2025
SJR 55
A JOINT RESOLUTION directing Kentucky's public postsecondary institutions to combat antisemitism.
Final Passage
YeaWith majoritypassD 4–6 · R 70–0Democrats 4 yea, 6 nay; Republicans 70 yea, 0 naybecame law · party crossover
Mar 28, 2025
HB 622
AN ACT relating to fiscal matters and declaring an emergency.
Final Passage HB 622 W/ fccr1
YeaWith majoritypassD 1–3 · R 31–0Democrats 1 yea, 3 nay; Republicans 31 yea, 0 naybecame law
How key votes are chosen

Automatically: a final-passage or override vote where the measure became law, the margin was under 10%, at least 10% of either party voted against its majority, or the bill was among the 25 most mentioned in officials’ own statements. Up to 25 per window, most recent first; five are shown. Bars show yea on the left, nay on the right, per party.

Votes most often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Nemes most often

  1. Myron DossettR311 shared votes100%
  2. Mary Beth ImesR330 shared votes100%
  3. Dan FisterR329 shared votes100%
  4. David OsborneR327 shared votes100%
  5. Susan WittenR327 shared votes100%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Nemes least often

  1. Mary Lou MarzianD224 shared votes60%
  2. Pamela StevensonD261 shared votes61%
  3. Lindsey BurkeD245 shared votes63%
  4. Lisa WillnerD260 shared votes65%
  5. George BrownD307 shared votes66%
How to read the agreement lists

The share of roll calls both members voted on where they voted the same way, among colleagues sharing at least 50 such votes. High agreement with members of the other party is common on routine votes.

Full voting record

KY 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

No bills for the KY 2025–26 session.No sponsored or cosponsored bills are recorded for this official in this time window.

Back to topNext: Online

Online

A site that changed 1 time in 90 days. Nemes’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.

The lab crawls Nemes’s official and campaign websites (weekly for Congress, monthly for the states) and keeps every page’s text, so changes can be read later; it also records social accounts and describes the images Nemes posts with a vision model.

Websites

How to read the counts

“Pages crawled” is the size of the site at the last crawl; “changes in 90 days” counts pages whose text differed from the previous crawl. Sites change for many routine reasons, such as new press releases, so a high count is not by itself notable.

Images Nemes posted

No images from Nemes’s posts have been described.

About the descriptions

Written by a vision model and may be wrong. Open the post to see the original. Five are shown; the toggle shows the rest.

State floor speeches

2 turns, Feb 11, 2026 to Feb 11, 2026

Floor speeches

Transcribed from chamber video or captions by the lab. They are not classified for kinds of statement.

Back to topNext: Methods and sources

Methods and sources

How this page was made. Profile built Oct 28, 2026; site last built Oct 28, 2026. Every number on the page is computed from the sources listed here, by the same rules for every official; nothing is written by hand.

The headline

The headline is the measure on which Nemes is most unusual among State Senate Republicans, chosen by one rule for every official of every party. The candidates are the rate of each kind of statement and of extreme labels, party unity, attendance, the small-donor share, the in-state share and total receipts of the latest cycle, the share of sponsored bills that got out of committee, talk-to-bills agreement, and the CSIP score’s place within the party group.

The builder ranks every measure within the same peer group the page compares it with, and writes each official’s percentile: the share of the group below the value, ties counting half, so 0.5 is the median and a value shared by many never ranks first. A measure’s score is how far that percentile sits from the median (0 in the middle, 0.5 at either end), and the highest score leads if it is above 0.25, outside the middle half of the group. Scores within 0.03 of each other are a tie, broken in this order: votes against the party majority, kinds of statement, ideology, roll calls missed, small donations, in-state money, legislation, agreement, extreme labels, receipts.

A measure counts only with at least 200 statements, 100 roll calls or 5 sponsored bills behind it and a peer group of at least 10. Two things never lead: high party unity or attendance, where most members sit, and a high rate of a kind of statement backed by fewer than 10 statements. When nothing qualifies, the headline is a neutral fact instead: statements classified, or years in office. The wording always names the direction (“in the bottom 5% of …”, “votes against the majority of …”).

Identifiers

Profile id
230c230d-7313-4a94-8eb3-60f57a86543c
Open States
ocd-person/230c230d-7313-4a94-8eb3-60f57a86543c

Bulk files with the same data for every official:

Freshness of this profile’s data

  • What politicians sayOct 27, 20261 days agoMembers of Congress: tweets since 2017; press releases, newsletters and floor speeches since 2022. State legislators: tweets since May 2024. Governors: tweets since January 2025. Labels from an LLM classifier.
  • Roll calls (state)Oct 21, 20267 days agoOpen States floor roll calls, 2019 on (none for AK and MO).
  • Bills (state)Oct 28, 2026todayOpen States bills and sponsors, 2019 on; stages from roll calls.
  • Campaign money (state)no dateState campaign-finance agencies, 2019 on; aggregates only.
  • Ideology (CSIP)Oct 25, 20263 days agoCommon-Space Ideal Points (CSIP), current validated run.
  • WebsitesOct 25, 20263 days agoWeekly crawls of federal sites since April 2026; monthly state crawls since June 2026.
  • State floor speechesOct 21, 20267 days agoState floor speech turns (published transcripts and captions), 2020 on; not LLM-classified.

How the measures work

What politicians say
Every post, press release, newsletter and congressional floor speech is read by a language model and marked for personal attacks, policy criticism, policy discussion, bipartisanship and credit claiming. A statement can be in several. Rates are shares of statements in the window. The methods paper.
Extreme labels
A statement has an extreme label when it calls a politician, party or policy “far left”, “far right”, “MAGA”, “extreme”, “radical”, “woke”, “fascist” or “communist”. The target is who the label is aimed at.
Policy areas and agreement
Statements and bills share 25 Congressional Research Service policy areas (state bills are assigned by a language model). Agreement is 1 − Jensen–Shannon distance between the two distributions, shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Ideology (CSIP)
Common-Space Ideal Points place federal and state officials on one left–right scale, estimated jointly from roll calls, campaign contributions and the text of statements, with standard errors. Only a validated run is shown. The methods paper.
Campaign money
Campaigns report by name only donors who give more than $200 in a cycle; smaller gifts are reported as one total. Federal totals and the small-donor share come from the FEC’s financial summaries of each campaign committee. Donor counts, donor states, employers and occupations cover itemized donors only. State filings report no small-gift totals, so state figures are itemized only. The lab never publishes donor names.
Votes and key votes
Attendance, party unity and the count of votes against the majority of an official’s own party come from roll calls (Voteview for Congress, chamber records for the states). Key votes are final-passage or override votes that became law, were decided by under 10%, saw at least 10% of a party vote against its majority, or concerned one of the 25 bills most mentioned in officials’ statements.
Peers and ranks
Comparisons are with the same party, chamber and level (for example House Democrats); state legislators are compared within their state and chamber for votes. Every comparison names its group. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; tied values share the average of their ranks, and the percentile is the share of the group below the value, ties counting half.

America’s Political Pulse · Polarization Research Lab

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