The field of candidates for a brief May primary election is now set and the Republican Party of Kentucky has released more information on the March caucus, including the narrowing of candidates who will appear on the presidential ballot.

The May primary election in Kentucky, for both political parties, will take place the third Tuesday in May and will see state and federal offices on the ballot, as well as some judicial candidates in various circuits filing.

In Clinton County, only a limited number of offices will be on the May primary ballot. Those that will appear include one U.S. Senate race, the U.S. House of Representatives (Congress) of the First District and state House of Representatives. For Democrats, the Presidential candidates will also be on the ballot.

The deadline to file for a state or federal seat with the Secretary of State was last Tuesday, January 26, and although there is a limited number of actual races this spring, there are several candidates.

The only state race that will appear for Clinton County voters is that of 83rd District House of Representatives, where current Representative Jeff Hoover, a Republican from Jamestown, is running unopposed both in the primary and general election as no Democrats filed.

The two federal seats that will be on the ballot, however, are a different story, as several candidates for both U.S. Senate and Congress are running in both party’s primaries.

The U.S. Senate race, a seat now held by Republican Rand Paul, who is also a candidate for President, has 10 total candidates, seven Democrats and three Republicans.

The seven Democrats looking to take the freshman senator from Kentucky’s seat include Jim Gray, current Lexington mayor; Rory Houlihan of Winchester; Jeff Kender of Phelps; Ron Leach of Brandenburg; Tom Rockenwald of Louisville; Grant T. Short of Owensboro and Sellus Wilder of Frankfort.

Sen. Paul, from Bowing Green, has opposition from his own party for the nomination, including James R. Gould of Lexington and Steven Howard Slaughter of Louisville.

The race for First District U.S. House of Representatives also caused additional interest with last year’s announcement by long-time Republican incumbent Ed Whitfield, of Hopkinsville, that he would not be seeking another term in Congress.

A total of six candidates are running to fill that vacancy, including Democrats Samuel L. Gaskins of Tompkinsville and Tom Osborne of Paduach.

Some four Republicans are running for Whitfield’s seat, including Jason Bates of Fulton; Miles A. Caughney, Jr. of Herndon; James R. Comer of Tompkinsville and Mike Page of Hopkinsville. Whitfield has openly endorse Page, his long-time field representative and Comer is well-known, having just completed a term of Commissioner of Agriculture and narrowly losing the Republican nomination for Governor in 2015.

Democrats will also be voting for a Presidential nominee in May, and will see (unofficially at this point), five names on the ballot. They include front runners Hillary Clinton of New York, former U.S. Secretary of State; U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and a couple of relative unknowns, Rugue Rocky De Le Fuente of California, Martin J. O’Mally of Maryland (who has appeared in all Democrat debates to this point), and Valerie M. Chaels, who is running as a write-in candidate from New York, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s official webpage.

In the general election in November, some Clinton Countians will have even a higher interest, as all six seats that make up the Albany City Council will be on the ballot, as well as some Clinton County Board of Education seats in several local precincts.

Also, more information has been made available pertaining to the March 5 Republican Caucus in which GOP voters statewide will choose delegates for candidates to the Republican National Convention. The party had earlier announced the names of 11 candidates who had made the cut to be on the caucus ballot, but the latest release, last Friday, January 29, had only eight Republican presidential contenders listed.

The following is the Republican Party of Kentucky’s latest release in its’ entirety:

The Republican Party of Kentucky has approved the official Call to Caucus, which provides information about the Kentucky Republican Presidential Caucus, including the list of caucus locations throughout the state. The Call to Caucus can be found on the official caucus website at rpk.org/caucus.

Participation by county Republican parties in planning for the presidential caucus has been extraordinary. Of the 120 counties in Kentucky, 111 county parties will hold a caucus within their county on March 5. The remaining nine counties will participate in a neighboring county’s caucus location. Voters in those nine counties also have the option of voting by absentee ballot.

“Kentucky Republicans are excited about the caucus, and our state is seeing more activity from presidential candidates than ever before,” said state party Chairman Mac Brown. “The decision to hold our first ever presidential caucus has given Kentucky Republicans more influence in selecting our nominee for president.”

On March 5, Republican voters will go to county caucus locations anytime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time to vote for their Republican nominee for president by secret ballot.

Only voters who are registered as Republicans by December 31 (2015) will be eligible to vote in the caucus. To register to vote or change party affiliation, a voter registration card can be obtained and submitted at a county clerk’s office.

To date, eight presidential candidates have filed with the Republican Party of Kentucky for the presidential caucus: Gov. Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. (Earlier, the names of Carly Florino, Sen. Rick Santorum and former Gov. Mike Huckabee had been on the list.)

Presidential candidates must have filed their declaration with the Republican Party of Kentucky by January 7, 2016. Kentucky’s Republican delegates to the national convention will be awarded proportionately based on the results of the caucus.

Kentucky state law provides authority for a caucus in KRS 118.555, which states that “The state executive committee of each political party shall, pursuant to its party rules, determine whether to distribute its party’s authorized delegate votes for presidential candidates at its party’s national convention based on the results of a party caucus, a presidential preference primary, or a combination of the two (2) methods.”

On August 22, 2015, the Republican State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Kentucky passed rules governing a presidential caucus in Kentucky, and then voted by more than two-thirds majority to approve the first ever Kentucky Republican Presidential Caucus to be held March 5, 2016.

(Footnote: Following the Iowa caucus held Monday night of this week, February 1, some candidates from both parties either withdrew from, and/or suspended their campaigns and those names may still appear on the ballots.)