Zach Dembo is the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's 6th Congressional District, which includes Lexington and surrounding Central Kentucky, having won the May 19, 2026 primary. The seat is open because Rep. Andy Barr is running for U.S. Senate, and Dembo will face Republican Ralph Alvarado, a former state senator, in the November 3 general election. A former federal prosecutor, Navy veteran, and teacher, Dembo has been endorsed by Gov. Andy Beshear, the Lexington Herald-Leader editorial board, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, and VoteVets.

Raised in Lexington, Dembo is a ninth-generation Kentuckian whose family roots in Shelby and Henry counties date to the mid-1700s, and the son of two physicians. He graduated from Stanford University, then taught eighth-grade English in the Mississippi Delta through Teach For America before earning his law degree at the University of Michigan Law School. He lives in Lexington with his wife, Lindsey.

Dembo spent more than four years on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, then became a federal prosecutor in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in 2017. In 2020, Gov. Beshear appointed him policy advisor and later legislative director, after which he returned to federal service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Lexington. He resigned from the Justice Department in 2025, citing its politicization, to run for Congress.