John Clifford Blanton (born May 8, 1968) is an American politician who has served as a Republican member of the

Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...

from Kentucky's 92nd House district since January 2017. His district includes Knott and Magoffin counties as well as part of Pike County.

Background

In 1990, he joined the

Kentucky State Police The Kentucky State Police (KSP) is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, and the official State Police force of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, responsible for statewide law enforcement. The department was founded in 1948 ...

and served as a state trooper in Pikeville specializing in drug enforcement and special investigations. Throughout his career, Blanton also served the cities of Madisonville, Henderson, Morehead, and Frankfort. In 2012, he retired from the KSP as a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. Following retirement, Blanton returned to school and graduated from

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky, United States. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-yea ...

with a Bachelor of University Studies and a concentration in

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

. Blanton identifies as a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, and serves as a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

for multiple churches.

Political career

Elections

* 2016 Blanton was unopposed in the 2016 Republican primary and won the

2016 Kentucky House of Representatives election The 2016 Kentucky House of Representatives elections were held on November 8, 2016, as part of the biennial United States elections. All 100 of Kentucky's state representatives were up for reelection. In Kentucky, members of the House of Repres ...

with 7,745 votes (51.5%) against Kentucky's 92nd House district Democratic incumbent John Short. * 2018 Blanton was unopposed in the 2018 Republican primary and won the

2018 Kentucky House of Representatives election The 2018 Kentucky House of Representatives elections were held on November 6, 2018, as part of the biennial United States elections. All 100 of Kentucky's state representatives were up for reelection. In Kentucky, members of the House of Repres ...

with 8,120 votes (57.2%) against Democratic candidate Ryan Mosley. * 2020 Blanton was unopposed in the 2020 Republican primary and won the

2020 Kentucky House of Representatives election Elections to the Kentucky House of Representatives were held on November 3, 2020. Predictions Closest races Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%: # # gain # # gain # # # gain # # gain # # gain # # Results ...

with 11,447 votes (71.6%) against Democratic candidate Ancel Smith. * 2022 Blanton was unopposed in both the 2022 Republican primary and the

2022 Kentucky House of Representatives election The 2022 Kentucky House of Representatives election was held on November 8, 2022. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were held on May 17. All 100 seats of the house were up for election. Republicans increased their majority in the ...

, winning the latter with 11,179 votes. * 2024 Blanton was unopposed in both the 2024 Republican primary and the

2024 Kentucky House of Representatives election The 2024 Kentucky House of Representatives election was held on November 5, 2024. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were held on May 21. Following the 2022 Kentucky House of Representatives election, 2022 election, Republicans an ...

, winning the latter with 14,751 votes.

References

Republican Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly Living people 21st-century Baptists Baptists from Kentucky Morehead State University alumni Kentucky State Police Year of birth missing (living people) {{Kentucky-politician-stub