dems as long as they did in the south thru clever gerrymandering. this allowed the dems to develop a farm team. thanks to the wave years of ‘14 and ‘1Θ, we defeated their rising stars. the yellow dog machine is busted in the south. moral of the story: win as many seats in a wave year.
Also, there are still a great many people in Kentucky who are registered Democrats because their daddies were Democrats, and their grandpappies were Democrats...etc.
Hell, I took a job working for a US Senator in Washington DC — you’d think my grandparents would be proud. Nope. Didn’t speak to me for 4 years and all because I was working for a Republican.