The Kentucky governor’s race will be one of the biggest elections of the year. Republicans are trying to unseat a popular Democratic governor who has managed to hang on in a red state, but first they’ll have to get through a divided primary on Tuesday. Here’s what to know.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has defied the political odds thus far: He ousted an unpopular Republican governor in 2019. His name is well-known in the state; his father was also governor. During his tenure, the state has suffered multiple tragedies — after the pandemic came deadly tornadoes and floods, then a mass shooting at a Louisville bank this month that killed one of the governor’s closest friends. Beshear had previously sidestepped pro-gun legislation, neither signing nor vetoing a bill that became law protecting Kentucky from stricter federal gun regulations.
He’s facing nominal opposition in the primary, with his bigger test coming in the November general election. Republicans have control of most of the rest of the state, and they see Beshear as vulnerable largely because of his party affiliation, especially if they can convince voters that he’s more liberal than he lets on.
The Republican race is unsettled: There are a dozen candidates trying to win the nomination. The top three are very different:
Attorney General Daniel Cameron: He’s a polished politician and the first Black attorney general in the state. Trump has endorsed him, and Cameron hasn’t backed down from his embrace after a jury recently decided Trump sexually abused a woman decades ago. “I’m honored to have President Trump’s endorsement,” Cameron said hours after the jury announced its verdict.Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft: The former Trump administration official doesn’t have Trump’s endorsement. But she’s made a competitive race by running attack ads on Cameron using millions of her own money. (Her husband is a coal magnate.)State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles: Like Cameron, he’s been elected statewide in Kentucky before. He talks about growing up on a farm in rural Kentucky and is hoping his quieter campaign style will capture voters turned off by the bickering from the other two candidates.
Top Republicans in the state, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, have stayed out of the race — although Cameron has been under McConnell’s wing for years.
Transgender issues are top of mind in the GOP primary: Kentucky is leading the charge on Southern states restricting transgender rights.
Last month, Kentucky Republicans pushed into law a sweeping bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth, restricting what bathrooms in schools they can use, banning discussions about sexuality and gender orientation in schools, allowing teachers to refer to transgender students by their pronouns assigned at birth, and requiring schools to notify parents ahead of time on any lessons about sexuality and gender orientation. Beshear vetoed the legislation, describing it as cruel, but Republican lawmakers overrode his veto, arguing Beshear was beholden to extreme liberals in opposing it.
Since then, the Republican candidates for governor have tried to outdo each other on opposing transgender rights. At a recent campaign event, Craft appeared to say she didn’t think transgender students should even be allowed in school: “We will not have transgenders in our school system,” she said, twice.
Democrats nationally are closely watching this race: Beshear’s reelection attempt comes a year before the presidential race and battles for control of Congress. Democrat hope they can make inroads in a state like Kentucky, especially with Republicans on the defensive about abortion.
Abortion is completely banned in Kentucky. But last year, voters knocked down a proposal to change the state constitution to further restrict abortion access, and a vocal antiabortion advocate lost a high-profile race to be on the state’s supreme court.
The governor’s mansion aside, Republicans have had great success in Kentucky in the Trump era. Democrats in the state legislature have been decimated. When Trump won the presidency in 2016, Kentucky captured the state House and control of most of the state for the first time in nearly a century.
Election deniers could kick out the secretary of state: Also on Tuesday is a Republican primary for secretary of state to run Kentucky’s elections. The current secretary of state, Republican Michael Adams, has received bipartisan praise for running fair elections, especially during the pandemic. He’s spoken forcefully against election deniers, calling the trend “demagoguery.” “I think they just want to watch the world burn,” he’s said.
That’s earned him censures from local Republican parties, and now two election deniers are challenging him for the seat. One, Stephen Knipper, has the support of national election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell. Adams told the Lexington Herald-Leader: “I could lose.”
Come November, that could mean an election denier wins the job of running Kentucky elections.