Charles Booker isn’t the only history maker running in the May 19 Democratic primary.
“I don’t know if I’m a pioneer,” said Corbin Snardon. “But if I am, that’s great.”
Booker, a state representative from Louisville, is apparently the first African American to file for his party’s U.S. Senate nomination.
Snardon, a Paducah educator, is evidently the first African American to toss a hat in the ring for the Third State House District seat – or for any other state legislative post in the Jackson Purchase.
Snardon, 31, is assistant principal at Paducah Middle School.
State Rep. Randy Bridges, a Republican, is seeking a second two-year term. The Third District encompasses Paducah and its environs.
Snardon, who officially filed in Frankfort Tuesday, is still nailing together his platform.
But his first priority will be working to bring back more quality jobs to Paducah and westernmost Kentucky. Through the years, the region has lost a number of large manufacturing facilities.
“It’s simple math,” Snardon said. “You pay quality money. Quality money enables you to have a quality living and invest in your community. If you don’t have people making quality money, you can’t have quality investment in your community.”
He added that quality jobs include union jobs. “The first thing that needs to go is ‘right to work,’” said Snardon, who also favors restoring the prevailing wage on state-funded construction projects.
His platform will have a stout public education plank. “Teachers are the bedrock of your economy – all careers, all trades, all jobs. Whatever you do, somebody taught you how to do it. So it makes sense to invest in public education.”
If they win their primary races, Booker and Snardon will face well-financed incumbents. Booker and seven other Democrats are vying to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is expected to cruise over a quintet of primary challengers.
The filing deadline for the primary is Friday. But Snardon isn’t expected to attract competition in his bid to defeat Bridges.
Before he was promoted to assistant principal, Snardon taught sixth grade geography and eighth grade history at his school. He was also Title One counselor for the Paducah public school system.
Snardon said he’d been thinking about public office since he was a student at Western Kentucky University, where he graduated in 2011. He earned master’s degrees in school counseling and in education administration from Murray State University.
“I want to be the voice of the people. But I’m also a good listener.”
City Commissioner Gerald Watkins held the Third District seat from 2013 to 2019. ‘I’m glad to see my friend Corbin Snardon step up and enter the arena of public service,” said Watkins, a Democrat who left the legislature to run for the non-partisan commission in 2018. “He is well-educated, an educator, and certainly well-qualified for the job.”
Snardon is second vice president and education chair of the Paducah-McCracken County NAACP branch. He was honored as NAACP Member of the Year in 2018.
“He’s done a super job,” said President J.W. Cleary. “You give him a job, and you don’t have to worry about it getting done.”
Snardon said his NAACP tenure will help him be a better lawmaker. “The NAACP does not endorse candidates, but it has given me a lot of experience and a lot practice in engaging with policy makers.”
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