Most counties in KY, especially here in rural and Appalachian KY, are dominated by one party or another, both demographically and in terms of local goverment, and have been for as long as anybody can remember. My own county is about 80% registered Democrats.
In terms of local offices the Democratic primary is usually the de facto general election. Since we have closed primaries, if you’re not a registered Dem you don’t have a vote in the local races. So people who haven’t voted for a Dem nationally in decades haven’t changed their registrations.
(It’s mostly the Democrats who dominate, but in some smaller counties like the one I grew up in the Republicans are similarly dominant. My parents probably haven’t voted GOP in my lifetime but they’re still registered that way.)
This used to translate nationally, at least in the Presidential race. Bill Clinton won Kentucky twice. Then again, we haven’t had a Democratic Senator since 1999. But then again, our current Governor is a Democrat, though mostly because our last governor was a douchebag even for a Republican and managed to piss off every teacher in the state. So it’s a fool who looks for logic in Bluegrass State politics.