 Ford was very active in civic affairs , becoming the first Kentuckian to serve as president of the Jaycees in 1954 . He was a youth chairman of Bert T. Combs ' 1959 gubernatorial campaign . After Combs ' election , Ford served as Combs ' executive assistant from 1959 to 1963 . When his mother died in 1963 , Ford returned to Owensboro to help his father with the family insurance agency . Although it was speculated he would run for lieutenant governor that year , Ford later insisted he had decided not to re @-@ enter politics until Governor Ned Breathitt asked him to run against Casper " Cap " Gardner , the state senate 's majority leader and a major obstacle to Breathitt 's progressive legislative agenda . Ford won the 1965 election by only 305 votes but quickly became a key player in the state senate . Representing the Eighth District , including Daviess and Hancock counties , Ford introduced 22 major pieces of legislation that became law during his single term in the senate . 
