The congressman from the 2nd District is Brett Guthrie, a Republican elected in 2008 to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Ron Lewis. A graduate of West Point, Guthrie served 14 years in the U.S. Army, first in the Reserve, then as a field artillery officer with the 101st Airborne division at Fort Campbell. After his discharge, Guthrie joined the family business in Bowling Green, Ky., Trace Die Cast, Inc., a leading supplier of aluminum castings for the automobile industry with a workforce of more than 500. His father had started the business with his savings and just five employees in the 1980s. Guthrie eventually became vice president. In 1998, Guthrie was elected to the state Senate, where he focused on education issues and became chairman of the Transportation Committee, helping the state develop its highway budget. Republicans expected him to eventually join the leadership ranks, but Guthrie had his sights set on Congress. Read More

The congressman from the 2nd District is Brett Guthrie, a Republican elected in 2008 to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Ron Lewis. A graduate of West Point, Guthrie served 14 years in the U.S. Army, first in the Reserve, then as a field artillery officer with the 101st Airborne division at Fort Campbell. After his discharge, Guthrie joined the family business in Bowling Green, Ky., Trace Die Cast, Inc., a leading supplier of aluminum castings for the automobile industry with a workforce of more than 500. His father had started the business with his savings and just five employees in the 1980s. Guthrie eventually became vice president. In 1998, Guthrie was elected to the state Senate, where he focused on education issues and became chairman of the Transportation Committee, helping the state develop its highway budget. Republicans expected him to eventually join the leadership ranks, but Guthrie had his sights set on Congress.

After Lewis announced his retirement, his longtime chief of staff, Daniel London, jumped into the race to succeed him. But leading local Republicans criticized Lewis and London, saying they’d set up a succession plan: Lewis had waited until just before the filing deadline to announce his retirement, leaving little time for candidates other than London to file. London apologized and withdrew from the race. Guthrie avoided a contested primary and marshaled his resources for the contested general election.

The Democratic nominee was state Sen. David Boswell, a 30-year veteran of Kentucky politics and a former Agriculture commissioner. He ran as a conservative Democrat, and the two contenders were virtually indistinguishable on the issues. Both opposed abortion rights and supported gun ownership, and both spoke out against the massive bailout for the financial industry passed by Congress that fall.

National Democrats sensed they might be able to pick up a Republican House seat and made the contest one of their top priorities of 2008. Guthrie found himself neck-and-neck with Boswell in a district that had been held by a Republican for 15 years. He ran ads tying Boswell to liberal congressional Democrats and their opposition to offshore drilling. And he emphasized his military background to the district’s sizable active and retired military population. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran an ad claiming that Trace Die Cast had sent jobs to Mexico. Former President Bill Clinton stumped for Boswell in the district; and first lady Laura Bush put in an appearance for Guthrie. Guthrie proved more adept at fundraising, with a war chest of nearly $1.3 million; Boswell’s barely topped $900,000. Guthrie won 53%-47%.

Once in the House, Guthrie proved to be a loyal Republican vote. He joined other GOP colleagues in angrily accusing Democrats of rushing major legislation to passage, and he co-sponsored legislation that required a 72-hour waiting period before a floor vote. He complained that the House-passed health care overhaul “raises taxes for just about everyone,” although supporters noted it imposed a surtax on only the top 0.3% of households. When the House passed a bill in September 2009 with major changes in the student lending system and establishing the government as the only provider of loans, Guthrie unsuccessfully sought a study for a new private-sector model for lending.

Guthrie sailed to re-election in 2010 with 69% of the vote over Democrat Ed Marksberry, who didn’t bother to submit reports that showed him raising any money. He was rewarded with a plum seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, enabling him to work with fellow Kentucky Republican Ed Whitfield on assisting their state’s coal and oil industries.