Introducing… Senator Southworth!

Known now as Kentucky Senator for District 7, Adrienne Southworth is a veteran of the Frankfort Capitol complex. She read her first state legislation in 2007, and made her debut speech in front of a Senate committee in 2009. Ever since then, Adrienne has dedicated many early mornings, late nights and tired feet to representing the values of ordinary people.

Elected in 2020 to be the State Senator for Kentucky’s 7th District, Adrienne has been committed to protecting individual rights, government transparency, redistricting reform, pension accountability, debt limits, emergency powers limited to necessity, protecting the right to life of the unborn, education innovation, protection and accountability for law enforcement, and election security. Adrienne speaks with the voice of the average middle class and represents a full spectrum of people and issues, while leveraging her extensive experience in the field to tackle seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Between keeping her promises and solving problems for constituents, citizens of all philosophical persuasions find they can count on Adrienne for multiple things.

Previous Experience

Adrienne began reading every bill every year in 2010, after a monumental experience in 2009 single-handedly stopping a bad bill which has never resurrected to this day. In 2013, the statewide grassroots coalition Take Back Kentucky, originally founded in 1996 to pass concealed carry for the first time in Kentucky, asked Adrienne to become the group’s new volunteer leader after the passing of founder and Frankfort legend Norm Davis. Adrienne subsequently built on her existing relationships with legislators to assist in research and awareness of hundreds of bills they dealt with every year, and traveled statewide to meet legislators and constituents in the many communities and cultures of this diverse Commonwealth.

Deputy Chief of Staff to Lt. Governor

Perhaps the most famous person Adrienne trained in her time with Take Back Kentucky was Jenean Hampton, who promptly requested Adrienne join her staff upon becoming the Lt. Governor in 2015. Working in the Lt. Governor’s Office as Deputy Chief of Staff expanded Adrienne’s reach from the legislative branch to the highest levels of executive branch agencies and policy. This combination of experience has enabled her to unwind the labyrinth of state government for the benefit of the everyday People. Serving for the Lt. Governor as the Governor’s special liaison to the Criminal Justice Policy Assessment Council was the formal initiative Adrienne was most passionate about. Another behemoth-sized task Adrienne led was a working group on Workforce Development, which identified the details of the $1.2 billion of estimated annual investment and studied methods for restructuring the system.

Adrienne managed and served on approximately a dozen boards for the Lt. Governor spanning the spectrum of public policy concerns from education innovation to bond authorization to minority business opportunities. Aside from her spotlight tasks in the Lt. Governor’s office, Adrienne’s favorite projects were advanced Constituent service requests that had no other possibility of solution. Assembling multi-state resources, following up with two years of milestones, and identifying necessary revisions of policy in multiple agencies were some of her best successes.

Background

Adrienne was self-employed since age 16 as a music instructor, and later photographer and graphic designer primarily in the wedding event industry before transitioning to public service full-time. She has also led retail customer service for fellow business owners needing help during busy seasons and location expansions. During Adrienne’s first campaign for senate in 2020, she began law school and graduated in June 2023. She is now a licensed attorney in part-time solo practice when she is not in her Frankfort senate office.

Adrienne married into the 7th Senate District, coming from LaRue County where she served eight years as vice chair and chair of the Republican Party. She now lives with her husband in Lawrenceburg.

Adrienne Southworth is the definition of government of, by, and for We the People.

Although familiar with both local and federal issues, Adrienne finds state-level policy to grasp her attention the most. She primarily sponsors legislation requested by constituents, and writes the details of most of her own bills and amendments as well as some for other legislators. Her quick-recall memory of bill numbers and details from the past 15 legislative sessions, as well as her down-to-earth style, makes sure the citizens from Senate District 7 – Anderson, Henry, Shelby, and southeast Jefferson Counties – are well represented.