Lawrence Eugene Forgy (August 4, 1939 – January 13, 2022) was an American Republican politician and gubernatorial candidate from

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. Forgy served as the Budget Director for Governor Louie Nunn from 1967 to 1971.

Career

Forgy announced that he would seek the Republican

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

nomination in 1987 but soon withdrew from the race, citing fundraising difficulties. The party then tapped

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

John R. Harper of Bullitt County as its nominee, but Harper carried only 5 of the 120 counties against the Democrat businessman, Wallace Wilkinson. Forgy ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

but lost in the primary to then

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Larry J. Hopkins, also of Lexington. Forgy again ran for governor in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, but he was defeated in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

by Democrat

Paul E. Patton Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second te ...

. In 1999, Forgy ran unsuccessfully for the

Kentucky Supreme Court The Kentucky Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to its creation by constitutional amendment in 1975, the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The Kentucky Court of Ap ...

but lost in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to James E. Keller. He was reportedly considering running in the 2008 United States Senate election in Kentucky, but he did not file as a candidate for the office, held by

Senate Minority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...

of Jefferson County. Forgy had been an early McConnell backer when the then county judge in Jefferson County was first elected to the Senate in 1984. In 2004, Forgy was co-chair of Bryan Coffman's unsuccessful race for Central Kentucky's 6th congressional district. Coffman lost to Democrat

Ben Chandler Albert Benjamin Chandler III (born September 12, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, United States representative for from 2004 to 2013. A United States Democratic Party, Democrat, ...

, grandson of former Governor and U.S. Senator

Happy Chandler Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its List of Governors of Kentucky, 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his ...

. Previously, Forgy has been a practicing attorney and the president of the

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, Health Kentucky. Forgy was a former Republican national committeeman, the Kentucky chairman of

Ronald W. Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...

's successful presidential election bids, vice chairman of Kentucky Council Higher Education, chairman of the Finance Committee of 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 ...

Board of

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s, and

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

and budget director in the administration of former Governor Louie B. Nunn. Forgy attended the University of Kentucky at Lexington, where he was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

social fraternity. He transferred to

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in Washington, D.C. from which he received both a bachelor's and law degree. While in law school at GWU, he became friends with former Democratic

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, McConnell's counterpart in the Senate. In 2011, Forgy stated that the only reason Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear picked

Jerry Abramson Jerry Edwin Abramson (born September 12, 1946) is an American Democratic politician who was the 55th lieutenant governor of Kentucky. On November 6, 2014, Governor Steve Beshear announced that Abramson would step down from his position as lieu ...

to be his running mate was "to attract New York and Hollywood Jewish money" for the campaign. In 2012, Forgy was self employed as an attorney in

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

Health and death

Forgy suffered a heart attack in 2017. He died in Lexington on January 13, 2022, at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forgy, Larry 1939 births 2022 deaths George Washington University Law School alumni Kentucky lawyers Kentucky Republicans Politicians from Frankfort, Kentucky Politicians from Lexington, Kentucky People from Logan County, Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni 20th-century Kentucky politicians