Democrat who says he stands for ‘underdogs’ will be one in quest to unseat Hal Rogers

Prestonsburg attorney Ned Pillersdorf is hoping to unseat longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers next year. 

Pillersdorf was scheduled to formally announce his candidacy at the Rosenberg Square in the Floyd County seat Friday afternoon, but he spoke with the Kentucky Lantern earlier this week about his plans. Pillersdorf, a Democrat, said his decision to run stems mostly from Rogers’ support for the sweeping GOP megabill that includes cuts to social safety net programs on which many people in the district depend.

Rogers, of Somerset, has represented Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District for nearly 45 years. The region includes much of Appalachian Kentucky. 

The congressional district is also one of the nation’s poorest and one of the most dependent on Medicaid. Almost half of the constituents in the district — 44% — rely on the state-federal program to pay for their health care and it has been critical to sustaining hospital services in Eastern Kentucky.

Pillersdorf — whose law office proclaims, “We represent underdogs” — is known as the attorney who stepped up to represent thousands of Eastern Kentuckians who lost disability benefits after being represented by disgraced attorney Eric Conn.

Conn was convicted of defrauding the Social Security Administration and sentenced to prison. Pillersdorf is featured prominently in the 2022 Apple TV+ documentary series, “The Big Conn,” which recaps the case and Conn’s capture after he fled to Honduras. 

Pillersdorf also is no stranger to politics, as he helped run nonpartisan campaigns for his wife, former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Janet Stumbo. She became the first woman elected to the state’s high court in 1993. 

However, Pillersdorf says this campaign is “not so much about me” but “what’s on the horizon” for people who will lose safety net resources under the GOP bill. 

Pillersdorf said Rogers’ backing of the legislation is “a betrayal of the needs of our citizens,” as the legislation “will cause incalculable damage to this region.” As the legislation moved through Congress, Pillersdorf said he decided to combine his campaign announcement with a protest against the safety net cuts. 

“I just think that that bill will have tremendous impacts across the board, and Hal Rogers truly betrayed the needs to protect the safety net,” Pillersdorf said. 

The Democratic candidate also has concerns about other clawbacks of federal funding for local programs under the Trump administration, such as a shutdown of Job Corps programs and education funding that is now up in the air. Within the congressional district, Letcher County Schools planned to use its remaining $3 million in pandemic relief funding to replace 25 school buses lost during 2022 floods, but Trump’s U.S. Department of Education nixed the reimbursement. The Trump administration also canceled a grant to the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County that was to support reading and math intervention programs.

“There is just a systemwide attack on the safety net on multiple fronts, and my criticism of the Democratic Party is we don’t pay attention to rural voters, and we are a rural district, and we are under attack,” Pillersdorf said. “And I intended to be an independent Democratic voice for our rural community to fight back about what’s going on on multiple fronts.” 

Pillersdorf acknowledged that the Democratic Party’s reputation in rural America right now is “problematic.” Kentucky Democrats have faced a recent setback in Eastern Kentucky after longtime state Sen. Robin Webb, of Grayson, joined the Republican Party. However, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told Kentucky Democrats during a June dinner that he is focused on getting “the DNC out of D.C.” in hopes of bringing rural voters back into the fold. 

The political landscape “is radically changing” as voters hear more about the GOP megabill, Pillersdorf said. He added that he believes the legislation “has reshuffled the deck” for Democrats.