GOP-controlled legislature won’t change its schedule in Frankfort as Trump visits Kentucky

FRANKFORT — President Donald Trump will speak in Northern Kentucky Wednesday afternoon, but most Republican lawmakers will be in the state capital, Frankfort. 

News of the president’s scheduled visit made headlines over the weekend. The Louisville Courier Journal reported Trump will make a public appearance in Hebron, a shipping hub outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. The president also will be across the river in Cincinnati Wednesday to discuss the new prescription drug website TrumpRx.gov. 

Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, told reporters Tuesday that the legislature will not have a change in its schedules Wednesday, although lawmakers have received invitations to the president’s speech. The Kentucky General Assembly has a GOP supermajority. 

“Clearly, I’m going to be here, running session, so I won’t be going. But I can’t speak for every member. Clearly a presidential visit to a region demands a lot of respect,” Osborne said. “So, I would suspect that some of the Northern Kentucky legislators might go, but I don’t know that for sure.” 

Wednesday will be the 45th day of the 60-day Kentucky legislative session. 

Trump’s visit to Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie’s 4th Congressional District comes as he’s endorsed a primary challenger to the incumbent. Trump announced in October that he would back former Navy SEAL  Ed Gallrein from Shelby County.

Massie, a libertarian Republican who has held the seat since 2012, has drawn the president’s ire on a few issues, including Massie’s leading the charge to release the federal investigation files on convicted sex offender and financier Jeffery Epstein.

Gallrein said on X Monday that the rally would “be a huge moment for our campaign and for the people of Northern Kentucky.”