Standing on the floor of the state Senate near the end of the 2024 General Assembly session, Damon Thayer was emotional as he bid his colleagues farewell ahead of his pending departure from the legislature. The majority floor leader summed up his two decades in Frankfort by quoting Frank Sinatra.
“I did it my way,” said Thayer.
But the Georgetown Republican isn’t done with politics. Although he’s not seeking reelection, he will remain in his Senate seat until the end of the year, representing Grant and Scott Counties as well as parts of Fayette and Kenton Counites. He pledges to be a visible presence at interim committee meetings as well as campaigning for colleagues this fall.
“I’m going to focus on trying to elect Republicans who are focused on solutions to help move Kentucky forward,” says Thayer.
Support for ‘Normal Republicans’
Thayer arrived in Frankfort in 2003, not long after Republicans gained control of the state Senate. He worked his way up the ranks of his caucus to become majority floor leader, a position he held for a dozen years. Now the GOP has supermajorities in both chambers, and although Thayer remains a loyal Republican, he’s not totally comfortable with the evolution of his party.
“I’m a proud Reagan Republican,” he says. “I sometimes worry that Ronald Reagan couldn’t win my party’s nomination for president today. That’s not something I’m proud of, but to me his policies are the kind of policies I wish we could espouse.”
Instead, the senator laments the “jokers” in modern politics who he says are more interested in blowing up government that using it to find solutions to state and national problems. While he believes there are fringe elements in both parties, he wants to restore what he calls “normal Republicans” to elected office.
“Someone who wants to help put the fire out that’s burning in America today,” he says.
For Thayer, the Republican fringe has its origins in the Tea Party movement, which emerged in 2009. He says former President Donald Trump has also contributed to the GOP’s shift.
“I don’t think that President Trump is the problem, but I do think his style of politics exacerbated the situation and made it appear to be more ugly and dirty,” he says.
Yet Thayer acknowledges he will vote for Trump in this year’s presidential election, saying he disapproves of the direction of the country under current President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Although Thayer says he was for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP primary, the senator says he will support his party’s nominee come November.
A Legislative Legacy
While he is not totally satisfied with the composition and direction of his party, Thayer is proud of what the state GOP has accomplished for Kentucky since gaining control of the General Assembly. He points to passage of pro-businesses policies like right to work and the repeal of prevailing wage, and to corporate and personal income tax cuts.
Thayer’s personal legislative accomplishments include a sweeping public pension reform measure in 2013, as well as legislation supporting the state’s bourbon and horse racing industries, both of which he has interests in. One of his last bills will create a new independent corporation to replace the state’s Horse Racing Commission and Department of Charitable Gaming.
“I think it’s going to ensure the safety and integrity of horse racing, and integrity for charitable gaming and sports betting for generations to come,” says Thayer.
The senator also touts GOP support for public education in the commonwealth, pointing to increases in in the new state budget for per-pupil funding. Schools will receive a 3 percent boost in the first year of the budget biennium and 6 percent in the second year. He also credits Republicans for sending millions of dollars to the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement Systems to address unfunded liabilities that have plagued the plan for years.
“We have one of the most generous teacher pension systems in the country,” says Thayer. “That is a part of what Republicans stand for.”
But given those investments, Thayer has little patience for those who criticize GOP spending priorities.
“There’s some people who you could give them every dollar in the state budget and they’ll continue to complain that they didn’t get enough, particularly the public education sector,” he says.
In that area, Thayer says he supports the forthcoming task force to review operations of the Jefferson County Public Schools, saying if it were up to him, he would break the state’s largest school district into three smaller districts. He contends smaller central offices managing a smaller number of students and schools would be more manageable and efficient.
As he reviews his legacy, Thayer says he is grateful to former Republican Senate leaders Dan Kelly and David Williams as well as current Senate President Robert Stivers for being good role models. He also hopes Sen. Julie Raque Adams of Louisville will succeed him as majority floor leader. Thayer says Adams has the skillset and temperament for the job and she is beloved by the GOP caucus. If Adams secures the position, Thayer says he would advise her to be herself in leadership.
“Don’t try to do the job like I did it. Do the job with your own flair, your own flavor, your own personality,” he says. “Just because I’ve done this for 12 years doesn’t mean I have a monopoly on how it should be done.”
