Scott Lindsay Sharp (born September 25, 1963) 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 ...

since January 2021. He represents Kentucky's 100th House district, which includes Lawrence County and part of Boyd County.

Background

Sharp is a native of

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon the southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West ...

. Following his high school graduation in 1982, Sharp enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He would serve for 22 years, beginning as a military policeman but spending most of his time as a special agent with the

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command The United States Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID or DACID), previously known as the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC), is the primary federal law enforcement agency of the United States Depa ...

. He also served as special agent in charge of the CID's counter drug task force and a protective services officer for

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Sharp retired from the army in 2004, and returned to Ashland. Sharp earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in criminal justice from

Wayland Baptist University Wayland Baptist University (WBU) is a private Baptist university based in Plainview, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Wayland Baptist has 11 campuses in five Texas cities, six states, American Samoa, and K ...

as well as a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in organizational psychology from St. Joseph University, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in management from

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The university has an alumni net ...

. He has taught law enforcement technology at Ohio University's Southern Campus and was a training course manager for the Department of Justice's Operation Alliance. Sharp is an active member of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

, CID Agents Association, and

Sons of the American Revolution The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...

. He identifies as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Electoral history

Elections

* 2014 Democratic incumbent Terry Keelin chose not to seek reelection as Boyd County

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

. Sharp won the 2014 Republican primary for Boyd County Sheriff with 1,506 votes (69%) but was defeated in the 2014 County Officers election, garnering 5,100 votes (35.3%) against Democratic candidate Bobby Jack Woods. * 2018 Sharp was unopposed in the 2018 Republican primary for Kentucky's 18th Senate district but was defeated in the 2018 Kentucky Senate election, garnering 15,823 votes (42.2%) against Democratic incumbent Robin Webb. * 2020 Sharp was unopposed in the 2020 Republican primary for Kentucky's 100th House district and won the 2020 Kentucky House of Representatives election with 10,558 votes (54.4%) against Democratic incumbent

Terri Branham Clark Terri Branham Clark (born December 22, 1966) is an American politician from Kentucky who was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Branham Clark was first elected in 2018 after incumbent representative Kevin Sinne ...

. * 2022 Sharp 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 9,845 votes. * 2024 Sharp 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 15,034.

References

Republican Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly Living people 21st-century United States Army personnel Catholics from Kentucky Saint Joseph University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Webster University alumni {{Kentucky-politician-stub