Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s election in Kentucky.
Trump (somewhat) beats DeSantis
Tuesday’s Republican primary in Kentucky entered a kind of proxy war between President Trump and his (arguably) biggest rival in the race for the GOP nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
And Trump won decisively. The former president was an early supporter of Cameron. It was a fairly modest endorsement for Trump — he didn’t visit the state on Cameron’s behalf, but hosted a call for Trump last Sunday — but it paid off for Mr. Cameron. didn’t have to worry about too many Republicans loving Trump. his camp.
“In Kentucky, President Trump’s winning culture is alive and well,” Cameron said at the outset of Tuesday night’s victory speech.
Nonetheless, Mr. DeSantis jumped into the race for Kelly Craft at the last minute, giving Mr. Trump an easy victory in the endorsement race. Ms. DeSantis recorded a robocall to her that was circulated the night before the election.
It was an odd endorsement given the timing and the fact that many of the state believed Cameron was the clear favorite heading into Election Day. To make matters worse, Kraft is embarrassed to likely finish third in the Republican primary behind Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Qualls.
It wasn’t a full-blown slagfest between the two presidential camps in Bluegrass. But Trump won comfortably and his team was keen to spike the football.
“Republican voters support President Trump, not Ron DeSantis,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for pro-Trump superPAC Make America Great Again, in a statement. “Voters know that President Trump has his own interests in mind when endorsing candidates, not those of his consultant base.”
Kentucky tries culture wars
Well, Kentucky Heartbreaking Republican primaries to be published, the general election features Republican candidates in a strange position for a red-hot state heading into the fall: an underdog. Kentucky’s incumbent Democrat, who stepped into the role of the Republican gubernatorial nominee, was overwhelmed by nominal opposition in his 2019 primary, with Cameron and the GOP leaning heavily on the culture war issue. It will draw a contrast with Governor Andy Beshear. Tuesday night. A protégé of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Cameron has gained wide prominence both statewide and nationally, and is considered one of the rising stars of the Republican Party, with recent statewide and federal election campaigns leading the Republican Party. He is also one of the few black candidates elected by . November should be easy for him, right?
not so soon Mr. Beshear is an incredibly popular incumbent not only for Red State Democrats, but more generally for American governors. He has led the state through a string of crises, including pandemics, natural disasters and the recent mass shooting, and boasts of the state’s economic progress in its first term. Republicans in the state believe he can win, but they also acknowledge that it will not be an easy task.
Let’s hope the Republican Party embarks on a culture war as a means of chipping away at Beshear. Cameron is likely to repeat the series of attacks heralded during the primary, including the attorney general posing as a religious liberty advocate and fighting back Mr Beshear’s excesses. It also includes attacks triggered by the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Governor Beshear has ignored the constitution and closed the church,” Cameron said. in published advertisements His first campaign took place last month. “So I took him to court and fought for the church to reopen so we could meet for worship.” The first ad for the Republican Governors Associationreleased last month and targeting Beshear Veto Bills Blocking Gender-Affirming Care For transgender minors.
“Crime is rampant in our big cities. Fentanyl is ravaging our communities,” Cameron said in his victory speech. “The left is trying to hijack women’s sports and our schools are becoming hotbeds of liberal and progressive ideas.”
Republicans will try to nationalize the campaign wherever possible, which is probably beneficial in states where Trump leads by more than 20 points. Mr. Beshear, meanwhile, tries at all costs to avoid the National Democrats while trying to inherit his popular brand of being the best apolitical bureaucrat to lead the state for another four years. right. “Let me ask you: Seeing people disrespect our state and economy, demean our employees, and agitate our departments, will it help the next company choose Kentucky? “Of course not,” Beshear said in a speech Tuesday night. But we know Kentuckians are tough, kind, and hardworking people. ”
It’s a bad night for a candidate who denies the election results.
Trump has regularly lied about his 2020 election loss, and many Republicans still rely on that lie. Yet some of the most prominent propagandists of these lies lost Tuesday night’s Republican primary.
In Kentucky, incumbent Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams easily won the party’s nomination, defeating Stephen Nipper, a prominent supporter of election fraud theories. Adams has been a prominent voice at home and across the country against the false narrative.
Before joining the campaign, Knipper toured the state on a tour to “restore election health” after the 2020 election. He said President Joe Biden was not elected fairly and that voting machines have been tampered with. Northern Kentucky Tribune reported.
“The Kentucky Republican Party has rejected those who defame county officials and poll workers with conspiratorial nonsense,” Adams said in a statement. “It didn’t happen magically, nor did it happen through electoral reform. It required strong leadership in the face of political and personal risks.”