Stephen Carney

Republican | Kentucky

Candidate Profile

Conservative

BIOGRAPHY

Name

Stephen Carney


Party

Republican


Election Year

2026


Election

Republican Primary


Race

State Senator, Dist. 14


Incumbent

No


Links

Stephen Carney websites Facebook

EDUCATION

University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, B.S. in Agricultural Economics, 2014-2017

WORK & MILITARY

Washington County Fiscal Court, Magistrate, 2023-

Carney Land Brokers, LLC, Principal Broker, Principal Auctioneer, 2019-

Carney Farm, Farmer, 2017-

AFFILIATIONS

CASA of the Lincoln Trail, Board of Directors, 2024-2026

Kentucky Baptist Convention, Mission Board Member, 2022-2025

Kentucky Baptist Foundation, Board of Directors, 2025-

Alpha Gamma Rho-Omicron Alumni Board, Board Member/President, 2019-

Muldraugh Hill Baptist Church, Member, 2019-

Springfield Rotary Club, Member, 2023-

Central Association of Kentucky Baptists, Moderator, 2022-2024

POLITICAL OFFICES HELD

County Magistrate, Washington County KY, 2023-

POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT

State Senate, -

SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS

CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (4)

State Republican Party Organizations (2025)

Jonathan Shell (2023)

Donald Douglas (2021)

Ross Mann (2021)

RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (0)

QUESTIONNAIRE

RIGHT TO LIFE

Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.

Strongly Agree

Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).

Strongly Agree

Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?

Under no circumstances.

The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.

Strongly Agree

The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.

Strongly Agree


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?

As stated in the First Amendment, separation of Church and State implies that the State neither establishes or compels participation in a State-Sponsored religion, nor does the state prohibit the free exercise of its citizens in any religion. Recognizing the role of religion in the English Civil War and the religious diversity of the young nation, our Founding Fathers enshrined religious liberty as a means of preventing religious differences from threatening the Republic.

Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.

Strongly Disagree


NATIONAL SECURITY

The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.

Agree

Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?

Our relationships with all of our allies around the world are important, including Israel. That said, the United States is not the world’s police. We should not fund, fight, or engage in foreign entanglements that primarily drive up the national debt or risk destabilizing our Republic when there is no direct threat to American soil, citizens, interests, or sovereignty.


HEALTHCARE

What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.

I support systematic, market-driven reforms to ensure that Medicare and Medicaid are managed in a fiscally responsible way, providing care for those who genuinely need assistance without further expanding the welfare state or increasing cost for privately insured or self-pay patients.

The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.

Disagree


ECONOMY

Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.

Strongly Agree

What is your position on the minimum wage?

Each worker has their own personal "Minimum wage". Free, open, and competitive markets are the best way to allocate resources, reward innovation and productivity, and lift people out of poverty. I oppose efforts to raise the statutory minimum wage.

I support using taxpayer funds to lobby the state legislature.

Disagree

List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.

-Increasing oversight within the state's Medicaid system to curtail "Ghost patients" -Curbing unfunded mandates that create inefficiencies and pass taxing burdens to the local level. -Reducing administrative overhead costs and red tape. -Applying Zero-Base Budgeting to the Executive Branch budget appropriations process. -Outsourcing of appropriate services to private and nonprofit entities.


IMMIGRATION

I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.

Strongly Disagree


EDUCATION

I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.

Agree

Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.

Strongly Agree


CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY

What should be the goal of the criminal justice system?

Government’s duty is to protect life, liberty, and property. The criminal justice system is what gives government its teeth to fulfill that duty. Justice requires accountability, consistency, and fairness. That means enforcing the law, protecting the innocent, following due process, and ensuring penalties are proportional and consistently applied.

Sharia law should not be accepted or incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States.

Strongly Agree

The government should use automated-enforcement cameras to track speeding and criminal activity.

Strongly Disagree


2ND AMENDMENT

What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?

Americans have a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. We do not protect public safety by disarming responsible citizens, we protect it by holding criminals accountable. I support enforcing the laws we already have, keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons, and increasing penalties for those who use firearms to commit crimes. I will not support measures that punish law-abiding Kentuckians for the actions of criminals.


ABOUT YOU

When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?

Very Conservative

Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.

No

Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.

No


VALUES

Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.

I believe that Scripture is the inerrant, authoritative, inspired word of God, by which he makes himself known to us. As believers, we are instructed be instruments of Grace, do everything in prayer and work "As if for God, and not for Man", and give him the glory. Scripture should be for the believer the basis of our morality, convictions, and conscience.

Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.

Strongly Agree

I support the expansion of gambling in my state.

Strongly Disagree

Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's upbringing, including their religious, health, and educational well-being.

Strongly Agree

Attempts to transition or encourage a child to transition to the opposite sex constitutes child abuse.

Strongly Agree


ELECTIONS AND VOTING

People should be able to vote without photo identification.

Strongly Disagree


EQUALITY

Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.

Strongly Disagree

Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.

Strongly Agree


ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?

Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas.

Man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.

Strongly Disagree

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