Kentucky state lawmaker is getting questions about her future political ambitions and whether she might try to move from the state capitol to Capitol Hill in Washington.

Lexington Republican Amanda Bledsoe is in her first term as a state senator.

Before that, she served eight years on the Lexington Fayette County Urban Council.

Here's what she has to say about all the talk and speculation.

So now let's talk about artificial intelligence.

Congressman Thomas Massie recently posted on ethics that the big, beautiful bill, which is the budget reconciliation bill, contains a provision banning state and local governments from regulating AI.

And you have been a part of these conversations, and you were talking to state legislators across this nation about AI.

You've become kind of like the subject matter expert for Kentucky on this.

How did that strike you?

And, I mean, what do you understand about what's actually in this budget reconciliation bill when it comes to artificial intelligence and how state governments are to act accordingly?

You know, the first thing I saw was what you saw when I read the first bill, which is that's interesting.

A ten year ban is is eternity in artificial intelligence.

I mean, we're talking about how quickly, even from last year to this year, what we're seeing in that capacity of technology and the gross exponential growth has been pretty phenomenal.

So to say ten years, I thought, Holy, that's that's a long time.

That's basically saying, don't do it.

And so I started investigating where is this coming from?

And I think it's coming from two fronts.

One, the federal government has an legislation that they're going to spend up a $500 million to implement some of the government efficiency tools with AI.

And I think their frustration is if we do this and make this large investment and then states continue to tinker in the AI policy statewide, they'll have a patchwork approach.

And that's not going to be efficient either.

So I completely understand on that side of it.

On the other side, you know, we've said for a while that maybe I should be regulated for the private sector federally.

And they've had this they've had the opportunity for a while to do so.

And I think some states, like Kentucky was very thoughtful to make sure we were only putting some guardrails around how Kentucky's state government was going to use AI and not the private sector.

But other states have gone pretty proactive, and I've done far more to maybe ban AI in their state in terms of using it in certain areas.

And I think if you're a tech company or an AI technology, you're saying this isn't you know, we don't want that.

And so they've gone to the federal government to ask for support.

So it's really interesting.

And the discussion around state rights has been kind of a fascinating one.

I'd prefer that to stay locally, although I'm I totally understand in this space why you're looking for some kind of consistency.

You know, I, I don't know how we would have 50 approaches to AI across the state and pretend like, especially when everyone's using it.

It's not like it's a specific thing.

There's AI, technology and almost everything we're doing now, so it's going to be really interesting to see what the Senate does with it and more importantly, what they do in reconciliation.

So the big question is will Amanda mace Bledsoe, current state senator, will she or won't she run for the sixth Congressional District seat?

That's a good question.

And I guess I would say I love public service.

I love serving the people of Kentucky.

I absolutely enjoy it.

It's a privilege and honor to serve as a state senator.

It was an honor to serve in Lexington as city council member.

And my biggest question is, where can I be the most effective, a legislator where I can be the most effective, leader, quite frankly, for the people here?

And is that to stay in the Senate and continue on that work, or is that to take that fight to DC?

Certainly.

It's time now for strong thinkers and strong leadership.

It's not a time for, I think a lot of this beat the chest in very shallow politics.

I think we're entering a time of really strong need for leadership.

And so that's the question that I'm asking myself.

And I've been so fortunate to have a lot of support and encouragement around the district to take a look at it.

So I still in how long will you still keep considering it?

Not much longer.

The time frame is good, and of course shorter.

Not just for me, but for others who are looking at the scene.

And of course, if I run the 12th district it would be open.

And so there's a lot of dominoes that fly in the space.

And I think everyone's kind of looking around to see in this environment who's the best person to lead?

Fayette County and the rest of the guys around us.

Who is the best person to serve a sixth district?

Describe your political ideology and how you may be fit in or not fit in well with what people think the sixth district needs.

I'm a common sense conservative and always have been.

You know, I went to Hillsdale College, one of the very few schools in the country that did not take government, does not take government money, accused of being very far right wing.

And I graduated.

There's the outstanding senior woman.

So I don't think I would consider myself a moderate from that perspective.

But I'm a reasonable person who governs.

And getting to yes means you have to work with people to find commonality and to find where you can make a difference.

And I enjoy making a difference.

I enjoy public policy that actually does something.

You know, you can raise a stink and you can go downtown and fight and stop your hands, raise your hands, not do anything.

You know, part of my job is I enjoy being effective.

And I think that's what's so important about leadership is not not necessarily knowing the issues, but also knowing how to do something with the issues, how to be effective in changing legislation, how to impact people's lives in a positive way, having the depth and understanding of the national scene and the international scene, to recognize the weight and responsibility that comes with representing in Congress.

That's a big responsibility.

And we're at a time now, I think, of, of, of challenge with the international, scheme is intense.

The debt and national is, is somewhat scary in terms of what we're looking at.

So I think I would consider myself to be highly qualified.

I had a good resume to do it.

I have a good experience, and I just want to make sure that if I take that jump, that I'll be the most effective person for sixth.

We know that there are candidates, and we've reported on those candidates who are in the race or even still considering whether or not to get in.

And for the Republicans, it may be who can be the most MAGA MAGA like candidate who can really get a Trump endorsement?

Are those major considerations for you?

I mean, of course, the president is a consideration, and he has done a great job trying to lead our country and no doubt has done has a lot of support in Kentucky.

And I will stand with him on the issues that that I think are super important to move in Kentucky, his agenda forward, especially in terms of workforce, in terms of national security, those are important things for Kentucky and for the sex.

And so he's absolutely consideration.

We're also talking about the future of our country for the next ten years.

You know, he's got four years in office.

And then we'll have another president and new leadership across the country.

And so this is also about the long term game of having someone from the six who will represent Kentucky's interests and represent conservative values and fiscal responsibility, and be a strong advocate for conservative values.

And many people who are not fans of President Trump are dismayed by his policy actions so far with his first five months in office.

Do you think that you could earn the votes of those voters?

I do, I think that not everyone's going to support every vote everybody takes.

And certainly the president has had some really strong wins in the last several months, and there's been others who disagree.

And that's okay.

I think the most important thing is, are we moving Kentucky and the United States forward?

And I think in that sense, he's done a pretty good job.

And we'll have to wait and see how some of these things play out.

You know, one of the congressional members said to me, I'm giving him a long runway because this is important.

And if we can continue to have jobs back in America and continue moving the middle class up, those are the important things.

I think moving forward.

So we made you wait for it.

On whether or not she's going to run for Congress, and we'll keep on it to see when she does make that announcement.

If she does.

And you can watch part one of my interview with Amanda Bledsoe when she talks about the controversy over an approved tax by the Fayette County Board of Education that's available right now online on demand at CT Dawgs Kentucky Edition.