A new floor manager in the state capitals upper chamber is readying for the role.

Max Wise was chosen as Senate majority floor leader, replacing retiring Senator Damien Thayer, who held the position for 12 years.

The Campbellsville Republican has chaired the Education and Economic Development Committees in the State Senate during his nearly ten year tenure.

Wise talked with Renee Shaw yesterday about his new leadership position and running against Louisville Republican Julie Rocky Adams, the former Senate GOP caucus chair for the big post.

Renee's interview kicks off an early installment of our Inside Kentucky Politics segment.

Leader Max Wise, good to see you.

You too, Renee.

Does that sound to you?

You know what?

It may sink in once we get into the session and on the Senate floor.

But I will say jokingly, my wife said, don't let this go to your head just because there may be a title before your name.

You're still Max.

And I also value that.

I don't think in terms of where I am as a legislator from my first day here to where I am today.

I'm still the same person, and I will continue to be the same person regardless of a title that may be come before my name.

Now, ten years in the state Senate will be.

Time flies, right?

Gray hair flies, lesser hair.

And I can imagine with this new role of what my physique and everything is going to look like going forward.

Well, the previous leader kind of held it together, right?

He did.

He did.

David did a wonderful job.

Well, what.

Did you take away from watching him in this role that you will either adapt to your style or not adapt to your style?

Well, I will say, you know, Damon was the one that did a lot of things that maybe many of us were like, Thank goodness Damon did that.

And I mean that in a positive way.

Damon took a lot of arrows.

He was out there in the forefront of a lot of controversial issues.

But that's who Damon was.

But at the end of the day, Damon also guided us through the commonwealth of some great policy and things that we're really benefiting off of today with economics and some other things.

You know, I will also say that Damon did some some things in terms of fundraising and he got out there in terms of the caucus.

And I would say that's probably a lot of things that as a caucus member, you know, it's not the number one thing we want to do is fundraising.

But I think Damon also guided us in a really good direction of making sure that he was on top of things.

He was organized.

And for me, the parliamentary procedure, there was no one better than what Damon did on the floor.

So it's going to be a learning curve for me in a lot of that, but I'm really looking forward to the opportunity.

I'm humbled.

I'm excited at the same time.

Have you always thought this would be a position that you would want and seek after?

You know, I've been encouraged over my nine years, soon to be T and come January about colleagues in my caucus saying your thought about leadership, but I didn't want to challenge a sitting member.

I always wanted to kind of play the long game, but I wanted to see if a position opened up.

What would that position look like and would it relate to maybe my skill set?

I think communication.

I think integrity.

I think also a sense of being genuine.

I think a lot of those things are what I've kind of prided myself on.

And I looked at this for leader position and I thought, you know what, It's an opportunity I can't pass up.

And with my wife and my kids said, Dad, do this.

Go for it.

I didn't want to have regret.

And I will also say this, running with Kelly Kraft and touring statewide and doing that, I'm not afraid to lose.

And I think a lot of times in our careers, many people are hesitant to put the step forward because they worry about, well, what if I don't get this?

What if I lose?

You learn more from losses than you do from wins.

And I'm very, very excited to step in the position.

Speaking of that, what did you learn from that experience that you think you can parlay into this leadership role?

Listening I try to do that in my job as a legislator, but when I was, you know, on the campaign trail with Ambassador Kraft, it was just meeting people in different counties across the Commonwealth of Maine.

What a great state we live in.

And I will say at the same time, everybody has a lot of the same needs.

You know, they're worried about the economy, inflation cost.

You know, they're worried about also jobs, attraction of jobs, drug epidemic.

There's a lot of things in government we can solve some problems, other things we can't.

But I really found out that at the end of the day, we're all Kentuckians.

We all want what's best for the next generation coming in.

And for me, it was just really listening.

And I valued that more than anything.

For the first time in my memory.

Leadership in the Senate will not have a member of Jefferson Fayette or Northern Kentucky rule.

Lawmakers are will be running the show.

What do you think the advantage of that is for Kentucky?

Well, I think a lot of times for years there's maybe been and this is just politically looking at things, maybe a little bit of a chip on the shoulder of some thinking.

Everything just always goes to the Golden Triangle.

But if you look at some of the areas of the state now that are really progressing in economic growth and population.

Warren County, where I represent the eastern portion down there, you've got three state senators represent Warren County.

Now, all three are in leadership.

And I don't know if that was just the happen of after redistricting that we recently did that.

That's just kind of how it played out.

But I do think that the rural members out there and the rural constituency base out there, they're glad to see that there's a voice for rural Kentucky.

And but at the same time, I think we also are listening to the business community.

You know, Mayor Greenburg reached out to me, you know, from Jefferson County talking to me about the needs of Jefferson County.

I met with Lynda Gordon, mayor of Lexington.

So, you know, just because I may represent a district of five counties step in leadership.

Now it's 120 that I've really got to look at.

Right.

It's also the first time in many years that there is since the GOP has taken control of the state Senate, that there was also no female in the top brass of leadership.

Your thoughts on that?

Yeah.

You know, running against Julie, I would rather ran a 3 to 5 person primary statewide than running against a member of my own caucus.

Senator Adams and I came in the same class together, but we had the conversation of, hey, it's an opportunity.

It's an open seat.

And we both worked in campaigning for that.

But I also think in terms of of the dynamics of that with leadership, we still have caucus members that represent, you know, various demographics.

And I don't think it's going to lessen anything that we do just because we have the caucus leadership made up of what it looks like.

Yeah.

And on Fridays Inside Kentucky Politics segment, Renee talked to Senator Wise about some front burner issues for state lawmakers when they convene in Frankfurt next month, including A.D. legislation.