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Bertram Robert Stivers II (born December 24, 1961) is an American attorney and politician who has served as president of the Kentucky Senate since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, he has served as a member of the Kentucky Senate representing Kentucky's 25th Senate district since 1997.
He is the longest-serving senate president in the commonwealth's history.
Stivers was raised in London, Kentucky, and graduated from Laurel County High School in 1980. Afterwards, he graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management and a minor in economics, and a Juris Doctor degree from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.
Beginning in 1989, Stivers worked as an assistant commonwealth attorney under his father. After his father chose not to seek reelection in 1993, he ran for commonwealth attorney but was defeated in the Republican primary.
During his tenure, Stivers has positioned himself as a "center-right" figure with a particular focus on economic development. Described as a "Hal Rogers Republican," he has pushed for increased tax incentives to encourage businesses to move to Kentucky and the deregulation of industries already in the state.
In contrast to Williams, Stivers described his relationship with Beshear as, "very good, very honorable and honest." However, the same could not be said for Stivers' relationships with the subsequent two administrations.
Stivers was an early opponent of Matt Bevin, denouncing his 2014 primary challenge of Mitch McConnell. After his 2015 election as governor, Bevin and Stivers continued to clash over issues such as Bevin's veto of the 2018 biannual state budget and veto of a public pension reform bill in 2019. Stivers strongly condemned and called for a federal investigation to be made regarding the hundreds of pardons Bevin issued during his final days in office.
The administration of Andy Beshear has seen similar clashes, despite Stivers early desire to have a strong working relationship with the governor much like what he had with his father. Stivers believed the turning point was Beshear's request for the general assembly to adjourn sine die early due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Stivers and House Speaker David W. Osborne said they would agree to this request if Beshear would agree to call the legislature back into a special session that year; Beshear denied this request. Since then, while Stivers and Beshear have had interests aligned over economic and workforce projects, the Republican supermajorities in both chambers have stripped the executive branch of many of its powers and overridden nearly all of Beshear's vetos.
With the retirement of long-time senator Mitch McConnell in 2026, Stivers has been mentioned by some to be the possible next de facto head of the Kentucky Republican Party.
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