Dennis Keene
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Dennis Keene (born August 17, 1965 in Dayton, Kentucky) is an American politician and a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
. From 2005 to 2019, he represented District 67 in the
Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form ...
. He resigned on December 16, 2019, to take a job in
Kentucky Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-el ...
Andy Beshear's administration as Commissioner of Local Government. District 67 is entirely based in Campbell County, Kentucky, comprising the cities of
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
, Bellevue,
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, Wilder,
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, Woodlawn, and a portion of Highland Heights. Keene is
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
. Keene was a second-term Wilder, Kentucky, city councilman when Jim Callahan, a Democrat who had served the 67th house district for many years, announced his retirement. Keene filed to succeed Callahan to the spot, but so did two other Democrats. One of the other Democrats, Ken Rechtin, a Campbell County Commissioner and former Newport, Ky. city councilman, was favored to win the primary. Keene ran an aggressive primary campaign and ended up collecting 1,052 votes to Rechtin's 957. With the difficult primary behind him and an endorsement from outgoing popular Democrat Jim Callahan, Keene looked to be a safe bet for the 67th district, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans. He also had the support of all three county commissioners - all three of which were Democrats themselves. The Republicans united behind Wilder lawyer Mark Hayden. Hayden ran an aggressive campaign and had the support of Gov.
Ernie Fletcher Ernest Lee Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is an American physician and politician. In 1998, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 60th ...
, both Kentucky U.S. senators and Campbell County Judge-Executive Steve Pendery. Keene drew first blood in the race when he drew attention to the fact that Hayden's law firm, Greenbaum, Doll & McDonald, sponsored a seminar titled "Exploring the Options for Area Manufacturers", which had a brochure that read: "Join us as we will help you discover for yourself the opportunities which China holds. You're invited to explore the 'why's' and 'how's' of setting up manufacturing facilities in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
." Keene said this proved Hayden would not bring jobs to the district or state. Hayden said he was not connected with the seminar and didn't agree with sending jobs overseas. Testy moments followed, including an argument between the two after answering questions at
Northern Kentucky University Northern Kentucky University is a public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky. It is primarily an undergraduate institution with over 14,000 students; over 12,000 are undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 are graduate students. Northern K ...
. The race was close to the end, with Keene winning by approximately 300 votes out of more than 12,000 cast.


Elections

*2012 Keene was unopposed for the May 22, 2012 Democratic Primary and won the November 6, 2012 General election with 7,768 votes (59.9%) against Republican nominee Adam Haas. *2004 When District 67 Representative James Callahan retired and left the seat open, Keene won the three-way 2004 Democratic Primary by 95 votes with 1,052 votes (49.1%) and won the November 2, 2004 General election with 6,665 votes (51.4%) against Republican nominee Mark Hayden. *2006 Keene was unopposed for both the 2006 Democratic Primary and the November 7, 2006 General election, winning with 6,249 votes. *2008 Keene was unopposed for the 2008 Democratic Primary and won the November 4, 2008 General election with 8,415 votes (69.7%) against
Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
candidate Patrick Lucas. *2010 Keene was unopposed for the May 18, 2010 Democratic Primary and won the November 2, 2010 General election with 5,042 votes (56.5%) against Republican nominee Roger Thoney.


References


External links


Official page
at the
Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in the ...
*
Dennis Keene
at
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Dennis Keene
at
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Dennis 1965 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives People from Dayton, Kentucky 21st-century American politicians