lit a candle 5h ago77. Long run in Frankfort.
Their story
Thomas Lee "Tom" Jensen was a Kentucky Republican who spent nearly three decades in public life as a state representative, Republican floor leader, state party chairman, state senator and circuit judge. He died in London, Kentucky, on 4 November 2026, aged 77. Jensen was born on 29 December 1948. He…
Thomas Lee "Tom" Jensen was a Kentucky Republican who spent nearly three decades in public life as a state representative, Republican floor leader, state party chairman, state senator and circuit judge. He died in London, Kentucky, on 4 November 2026, aged 77.
Jensen was born on 29 December 1948. He earned a degree in secondary education from Cumberland College, now the University of the Cumberlands, and a law degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University in 1978. He practised law in London from that year onward and was admitted to practise before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
He was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1984, lost renomination in 1986 and returned in 1988. From 1991 to 1995 he was minority floor leader, the highest Republican post in the House. He did not seek reelection in 1996 and instead became chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky, a period in which Republicans won control of the Kentucky Senate for the first time.
Jensen returned to the legislature in 2005 as senator for the 21st District, covering Estill, Laurel, Powell, Jackson and Menifee counties. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and was named Senator of the Year in 2011 by the Kentucky Narcotics Officers Association, and he received the 2011 Public Advocate Award for criminal justice reform. In 2012 he was elected judge of the 27th Judicial Circuit, serving Laurel and Knox counties, where many of his cases involved drug offences. He retired from the bench in February 2016 to return to private practice, and Senator Mitch McConnell paid tribute to his career on the Senate floor.
When Jensen left the bench, McConnell told the Senate that Kentucky would miss "his wisdom, his judgment, and the benefit of his many years of experience," and noted that advocacy in the courtroom seemed to be his first love. He had kept his London law practice for almost four decades alongside his time in office.
Jensen was married to Nannette Curry Jensen, and they had two daughters, Natalie and Laura. He died on Wednesday 4 November 2026. No cause of death was made public. His funeral was set for 8 November at House-Rawlings Funeral Home in London, with a private burial to follow.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), WYMT, House-Rawlings Funeral Home, Ballotpedia and the Congressional Record. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Kentucky is going to miss his wisdom, his judgment, and the benefit of his many years of experience.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, tribute in the Congressional Record, February 2016
Photos
1Tom Jensen (cropped)
by People Forever
From social media
2Posts by Tom, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.