By Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern · May 19, 2026 In 2022, Dr. Ralph Alvarado, then a Kentucky lawmaker, presents a bill to a Kentucky Senate committee. Alvarado became Tennessee’s health commissioner in 2023. (LRC Public Information) Voters have decided: Republican former state Sen. Ralph Alvara do and former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo will face off in the general election for Kentucky’s 6th District Congressional seat. Alvarado, with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, beat out  State Rep. Ryan Dotson, retired pharmaceutical executive Greg Plucinski, Adam Perez Arquette and Steve Shannon in Tuesday’s primary election.  Dembo defeated former state Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, former Lexington councilman David Kloiber, businesswoman Erin Petrey, Harvey Carroll Jr., Jimmy Ausbrooks and Corey Edwards.  Zach Dembo. (Provided by Dembo’s campaign) Alvarado: ‘Conservative fighter’  Alvarado identifies himself as a “Christian, husband, father, physician and conservative fighter” who wants to help Trump “to fire up the economy, secure our border, and stop the woke agenda,” according to his campaign website.  He is also a medical doctor — he completed his M.D. training at Loma Linda University, which is a “ Christ-centered Seventh-day Adventist” university in California, according to its website.  “He will work to secure the southern border, stop the flow of fentanyl, restore energy independence, and grow the economy by unleashing American workers and cutting taxes,” his website states. “He will defend our constitutional rights, back the blue and put Kentucky families first.   In 2014, he became the first Hispanic member of the Kentucky General Assembly. He served in the statehouse from 2015-2023 before heading south to work as the Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner.  In 2019, he ran on the unsuccessful gubernatorial reelection ticket with former Gov. Matt Bevin following a scandal involving Bevin’s controversial pardons for a convicted killer and child rapist, among others.  While heading up the Tennessee Health Department, the department banned the use of preferred pronouns in staff emails, which the Tennessee Lookout reported in 2025 was on Alvarado’s “authority.” During his tenure, the department also launched an initiative to help pregnant Tennesseeans track fetal movements as a way to combat the state’s high rates of stillbirths.  At the time, Alvarado said “stillbirths have a profound impact on families and preventing these tragedies is a top priority,” according to the Lookout.  Dembo: ‘Face the failed DC leadership’  Dembo comes from a long line of Kentucky farmers, according to his campaign website. He was raised in Lexington and is a Navy veteran and former teacher.  The former federal prosecutor also worked in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division before becoming a policy advisor and then legislative director for Beshear. He’s also worked as Assistant United States Attorney, according to his campaign website.  “After seeing firsthand the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice, Zach made the difficult choice to resign from the job that he loved,” his campaign website says. “But, he didn’t want that to be the end of his public service, and he didn’t want to back down from the fight. He’s running to face the failed DC leadership head-on by running to be Central Kentucky’s voice in Congress.”  He’s been endorsed by former Lexington Mayor and Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray and Kerry Harvey, former secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, among others. He supports codifying the overturned abortion protections in Roe V. Wade, reforming ICE and taking “steps to make the Department of Justice completely independent from the whims of this president,” among other issues.  “The government shouldn’t have a say in how and when you start a family or in what women choose to do with their own bodies,” Dembo’s website states. “As the son of two physicians, I know how private and sacred the relationship between a doctor and her patient is. There’s no reason to have the government in that exam room when a patient is facing one of the most difficult decisions of her life.”  He believes abortions “should be safe, legal and rare” and that “a woman who wants to have an abortion in her first trimester should have that right.”  The post Alvarado, Dembo to square off in Congressional 6th District race in November appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less