Background
Upchurch is a son of Martin L. Upchurch of Monticello and the former Barbara Jackson (1948-2013).
Upchurch is a son of Martin L. Upchurch of Monticello and the former Barbara Jackson (1948-2013).
Upchurch held this seat from January 1999 to December 2010 and then returned after a two-year hiatus to the position early in 2013. He has two brothers, Keith Upchurch of Monticello and Timothy Upchurch of Lexington, Kentucky. In the general election, he defeated the Democrat Arthur J. Bolze of Somerset by a wide margin, 8,505 (757 percent) to 2,736 (243 percent) As a legislator, Upchurch developed a reputation for his support of small business and agriculture.
In 2002, his colleagues elected him as the House Republican whip, a position which he filled for two terms and helped to craft the state budget.
He did not seek a seventh two-year term in 2010 and was succeeded by fellow Republican, Sara Beth Gregory, a lawyer from Monticello. Instead Upchurch was defeated in a bid for Wayne County Judge-Executive.
Upchurch received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Eastern Kentucky University in his native Richmond, Kentucky. The leadership of both parties selected Upchurch and Shearer as their nominees.
At EKU, he was the student body president and an automatic member of the university board of regents. He is a member of the Elk Spring Valley Baptist Church in Monticello.