Larry L. Saunders (August 1, 1939 – November 21, 2010) was an American politician from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

who was a member of the

Kentucky Senate The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout Kentucky, the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky senators. T ...

from 1986 to 1989 and 1993 to 2005, serving as the

president of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

from 1997 to 2000. Saunders was first elected to the senate in a November 1986 special election following the resignation of incumbent senator Danny Yocom. He was defeated for the Democratic nomination for a full term in 1998 by

Dan Seum Daniel DeVerl "Malano" Seum ( ; born January 28, 1940) is an American politician. He was a member of the Kentucky Senate, representing the 38th district from 1995 to 2019. Seum began his career as a member of the Democratic party. He was first ...

. Saunders defeated Seum in a rematch in 1992, and served until he retired from the senate in 2004. Following the 1996 senate election, Democrats had 20 seats in the senate while Republicans had 18. In the 1997 organizational session, Saunders was elected president of the senate, defeating incumbent Democratic leader John A. Rose with the support of four democrats and all 18 Republicans. Saunders organized the senate with Republicans and his Democratic allies chosen to chair senate committees. In July and August 1999, two Democratic senators switched to the Republican party, giving them a majority in the chamber. In January 2000, Saunders was formally replaced as senate president by Republican David Williams. He died in November 2010 at age 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Larry 1939 births 2010 deaths Democratic Party Kentucky state senators Presidents of the Kentucky Senate 21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly 20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly