Joni L. Jenkins (born December 6, 1958) is an American politician and a former Democratic 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 ...

, representing District 44 from 1995 until 2023. She also served as Minority Leader in the House from December 2019 until January 2023.

Education

Jenkins earned her BA from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Political career

In the 2000s, Jenkins began caucusing with other female legislators (including Susan Johns, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Eleanor Jordan, Mary Lou Marzian, Kathy Stein, and more) to track legislation in their individual fields of expertise and work together to affect legislation more easily than they could have done alone. One early victory involved "building statewide opposition to a bill that, before their organized effort, likely would have gone unnoticed and passed easily, ..removing the requirement that educational institutions offer women's softball as well as men's baseball, violating the spirit if not the letter of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

Elections

*2012 Jenkins was unopposed for the May 22, 2012 Democratic Primary and won the November 6, 2012 General election with 11,810 votes (70.1%) against Republican nominee Gail Powers. *1994 Jenkins won the 1994 Democratic Primary and was unopposed for the November 8, 1994 General election. *1996 Jenkins was unopposed for both the 1996 Democratic Primary and the November 5, 1996 General election. *1998 Jenkins was unopposed for the 1998 Democratic Primary and won the November 3, 1998 General election against Republican nominee James Maxfield. *2000 Jenkins was unopposed for both the 2000 Democratic Primary and the November 7, 2000 General election, winning with 11,221 votes. *2002 Jenkins was challenged in the 2002 Democratic Primary, winning with 2,578 votes (69.3%) and was unopposed for the November 5, 2002 General election, winning with 8,741 votes. *2004 Jenkins was unopposed for both the 2004 Democratic Primary and the November 2, 2004 General election, winning with 12,782 votes. *2006 Jenkins was unopposed for both the 2006 Democratic Primary and the November 7, 2006 General election, winning with 9,309 votes. *2008 Jenkins was unopposed for both the 2008 Democratic Primary and the November 4, 2008 General election, winning with 13,911 votes. *2010 Jenkins was unopposed for both the May 18, 2010 Democratic Primary and the November 2, 2010 General election, winning with 8,459 votes when Republican challenger Gail Powers did not qualify.

References

External links

Official page
at the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...

Campaign siteJoni Jenkins
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Joni L. Jenkins
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Joni 1958 births 21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni Women state legislators in Kentucky 20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly 20th-century American women politicians