Well-traveled native of eastern Kentucky is one of the newest members of the Kentucky General Assembly.

State Representative Vanessa Grassle represents the 88th House District, which encompasses parts of Fayette and Scott counties.

She grew up as a Democrat, but now finds herself as a registered Republican.

We caught up with the new state lawmaker to find out why she ran and what she hopes to accomplish.

As we continue our series profiling new legislators in the Kentucky General Assembly's freshman class of 2025.

Representative Vanessa Grassle has worn many hats in her career from teaching abroad in Japan to working with the Council of State Governments here in Lexington.

She now finds herself in the education technology industry.

She says running for office wasn't on her radar until her mom and a shepherd retired as the superintendent of Floyd County schools.

I was trying to convince my mom to run for office and use early childhood Ed as her background, and she let me know that she really just wanted a little break but would encourage me to run and support me.

And so we both realized that there's a lot of work to be done in the realm of education.

It's one of the things we spend the most of our tax dollars on at the state level, and I want to carry on my mom's legacy serving children and families and ensuring that poor kids like us can really live the American dream.

Representative Grassle won her seat as a registered Republican, but earlier in life she identified as a Democrat.

She says the Democratic Party no longer feels like the party of the working class.

I grew up in eastern Kentucky.

My family was in the coal mining industry.

Growing up, we felt like the Democratic Party was the working class party and we were all registered Democrats at the time.

But like so many Kentuckians and so many Americans, we have felt that shift personally.

And so I'm proud to be a Republican.

Now, I feel that the Republican Party better aligns with where I am on ensuring families can live the American dream regardless of where they started in life.

Representative Grassle has been all over the world traveling to countries like Portugal, China and Zimbabwe.

I've traveled probably to around 60 countries at this point, and yes, those experiences certainly shaped me into who I am today and inform my policymaking.

One of the things that I am looking forward to doing something I campaigned on is starting a Japan caucus.

I think it's an important nod to the Japanese investment all across Kentucky, but especially here in central Kentucky, where Toyota just made another investment of nearly $1,000,000,000 into a paint facility that many of my constituents will work at.

Education is a priority issue for Representative Grassle, but she looks forward to discussing housing and the future of AI in Kentucky this session.

So many Kentuckians are disappointed with how DNI has been rolled out in the Commonwealth and feel that it has in fact been more harmful than than the good it's done.

Housing.

How we can get more Housing.

Perhaps we need to deregulate some parts of that industry or really look at what is in fact holding back builders or holding back the industry.

And I, I it's fascinating.

It's something that we should absolutely use to our benefit.

I love to talk about innovation and how we can modernize state government across the board.

But we also have to make sure we put up some pretty good guardrails to keep Kentuckians safe.

Election night came down to the wire for Representative Grassle.

Vanessa Grassle, who was the Republican, has taken the lead very thin at this point.

She beat incumbent Sherilyn Stephenson by only 125 votes.

She says her ground work went a long way in securing her victory.

We knocked over 15,000 doors, did community coffees, just tried to outreach to the international community and others to earn their support in the race.

And so now the real work begins.

And I'm excited to engage even further with constituents and really listen to what their concerns are and see how I can be impactful in this central Kentucky region.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm McKenzie Spink.

Thank you, McKenzie.

So far, Representative Grassle is the lead sponsor on just one bill.

This session so far, House Bill 70 would seek to improve public access to dietetics services.