FRANKFORT — Outgoing Republican Senate Floor Leader Damon Thayer said that when he moved to Kentucky more than three decades ago, he “never would have dreamt” he would be elected to the seat, nor serve as his party’s floor leader for 12 years. However, now is the right time to move forward with ot her pursuits, Thayer said in a recent interview with the Kentucky Lantern.  Thayer, of Georgetown, announced ahead of the 2024 legislative session that he would leave office at the end of his term. While the last year has been “the strangest job transition I’ve ever had,” Thayer said his decision to not seek reelection was the “right step to take at the right point in my life, and I’m glad I did it.”  Republican senators chose Sen. Max Wise, of Campbellsville, to become the next majority floor leader. Another Republican, Matt Nunn, a veteran and executive at Toyota Tsusho America, will succeed Thayer as the senator for the 17th Senate District, which includes Grant and Scott counties and parts of Fayette and Kenton counties.  Out of office, Thayer plans to focus on private sector pursuits, including in the horse racing and bourbon industries, both of which are long-time passions for him. When he moved to Kentucky in the 1990s, Thayer worked at Northern Kentucky horse racing track Turfway Park. He is a co-owner of bourbon brand Kentucky Senator with business partner Andre Regard. Thayer said they anticipate next year to be an important year of growth for the brand, which is a revival of the original brand bottled by Crigler & Crigler in Covington.  However, Thayer is not ruling out a future return to politics. He told the Lantern that he is “not specifically leaving the Senate to prepare for a run for higher office,” but he’s keeping his options open — including a run for governor in 2027 and keeping an eye on midterm elections in 2026.  “Leader (Mitch) McConnell still has two years left on his term, and he may run again, but he may not, and if he doesn’t, that will, I think, create a domino effect in Kentucky politics,” Thayer said. “And I’d certainly like my name to be a part of the conversation for any open seat in the U.S. Senate or Congress that occurs.” Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is stepping down from his congressional leadership role but has not declared if he will run again for his seat in 2026, which he’s held since 1984. If McConnell does not run, that will encourage many politicians to begin jockeying for the seat themselves.  Since Thayer was first elected to the Senate in 2003 Republicans solidified their supermajority in Frankfort. The GOP took control of the Senate in 2000 and the House in 2016. Though Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has held the governorship since 2019, Kentucky’s remaining statewide officers have been Republicans during his two terms. “We all have pretty big egos. You don’t put your name on the ballot, unless you have a fairly, fairly big ego. It just goes with the territory — present company included.” – State Sen. Damon Thayer Thayer said that for the foreseeable future, Kentucky Republicans have “a very strong bench” of candidates. During the 2024 general election, 90 Republicans sought election to the 138-member General Assembly.  “I feel like whether I’m part of it or not, I think that the bench is very deep in Kentucky, and we’re going to have strong candidates for offices for a long time to come,” Thayer said.  Nevertheless, parties with a supermajority can still face obstacles. Thayer said managing the expectations of all 111 Republicans in the General Assembly will be a challenge. For the most part, Republicans agree on supporting the party’s platform but “there are shades of differences based on region, based on gender, based on core beliefs, based on personality, based on life experience,” Thayer said. A caucus of any size will have “internal differences.”  “We all have pretty big egos,” Thayer said. “You don’t put your name on the ballot, unless you have a fairly, fairly big ego. It just goes with the territory — present company included.”  Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, left, confers with Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray on the Senate floor, March 10, 2023. (LRC Public Information) Making points on his way out the door Thayer said that during his time in the Senate, he was most proud of carrying 2013’s Senate Bill 2, an omnibus piece of legislation that changed the state employee pension system. Thayer added that he was glad to be part of reducing Kentucky’s state income tax, which he heralded as “the best thing we’ve done as a party.” A Republican-sponsored fourth cut — from 4% to 3.5% — is expected during the 2025 legislative session.  However, a few Thayer-backed ideas are being left on the cutting room floor. During his last session this year, Thayer filed several bills that he called “a few statements on my way out the door.” They included ending state limits on donations to political campaigns and committees while increasing the frequency of campaign finance reports to every two weeks and changing school calendars to not begin before Sept. 1.  Thayer also proposed increasing the salaries of state legislators, which he acknowledged lawmakers probably wouldn’t support because it’s “political suicide” for those wanting to get reelected, but Thayer “wanted to make the point on my way out the door that this is a full-time job if you want to do it well and continue to be re-elected.”  As for his successor, Thayer said of Wise that he is “well-prepared to be the majority leader” as the former chair of Senate committees and the sponsor of priority bills.  “I wish him well,” Thayer said of Wise. “I reached out to congratulate him and told him that I’ll be a resource if he ever needs to reach out for any questions or assistance.”  When Wise issued a statement on his election to the Senate leadership role last month, Wise said Thayer “delivered conservative results.”  “He always fought for our commonwealth and its values,” Wise said. “I want to thank him for his leadership and the standard he has set.”  The Republican Party of Kentucky also praised Thayer before his term ends in in December.  “Republicans in Kentucky have enjoyed remarkable victories over the last 20 years,” said RPK Communications Director Andy Westberry. “While no single person can take all the credit for that success, one thing is certain: Sen. Damon Thayer played a major role in those countless victories.”  Thayer called his more than two decades in the Senate “an honor and a privilege.”  “Whether people like me or dislike me, or agree with me or disagree with me, I hope they know that I did everything based on what I thought was right — with an understanding that I might be wrong — but I did what I thought was right for Kentucky as a whole,” Thayer said.  The post Leaving KY Senate, Damon Thayer says he acted ‘based on what I thought was right’ appeared first on The Lexington Times.