{"id":574447,"date":"2023-05-14T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/kentuckys-bitter-gop-governor-primary-comes-to-a-head\/"},"modified":"2023-05-14T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T10:00:00","slug":"kentuckys-bitter-gop-governor-primary-comes-to-a-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/kentuckys-bitter-gop-governor-primary-comes-to-a-head\/","title":{"rendered":"#Kentucky\u2019s bitter GOP governor primary comes to a head"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/camerondaniel_craftkelly_050123ap_kentucky.jpeg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Kentucky\u2019s contentious GOP gubernatorial primary is drawing to a finish Tuesday in a race that poses high stakes for the party looking to unseat Gov. Andy Beshear (D).<\/p>\n<p>State Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a> Daniel Cameron, former U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft and Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles have regularly polled as the three main front-runners in the crowded Republican primary field jockeying to take on Beshear this fall, with Cameron widely viewed as leading the field.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But Cameron and Craft have largely used their ammo on each other between the debate stage and millions of dollars in attack ads, leaving Republicans eager to move past the bruising primary and focus on the more challenging test ahead: taking down a popular red-state Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still think that Cameron\u2019s in a really strong position. He\u2019s just a very popular figure,\u201d said Republican public affairs consultant Tyler Glick.<\/p>\n<p>While he noted Craft\u2019s attacks had \u201ceaten into his numbers a bit,\u201d Glick argued that didn\u2019t mean voters were heading toward Craft instead. \u201cI think he\u2019s weathered the worst of it,\u201d he said, pointing to the establishment of the super PAC supporting him and spending to be able to counter those attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky Republicans will head to the polls next week to choose their candidate to go head-to-head with Beshear in November in a race\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdImpact_Pol\/status\/1654506840904933377\">that has seen at least $12 million<\/a> spent in the primary alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Polling in the primary has been sparse. An April\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/fox56news.com\/news\/kentucky\/fox-56-emerson-poll-cameron-leading-craft-quarles-ahead-of-kentucky-republican-primary\/\">FOX 56\/Emerson College poll<\/a>\u00a0showed Cameron with 30 percent support, Craft with 24 percent and Quarles at 15 percent. Twenty-one percent were undecided, and none of the seven other candidates included reached double digits. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.<\/p>\n<p>The stakes for Republicans are twofold: Republicans will need to effectively coalesce around one candidate if they have any hope of chipping away at the popular governor\u2019s support in order to flip the governor\u2019s mansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But there are national implications, too. Should Beshear walk away with another term, that could cause some anxiety at the national level for Republicans who will look at the gubernatorial race as a bellwether for 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a primary where its three top candidates have largely been aligned on key issues like abortion and gun rights, Cameron, Craft and Quarles have relied on endorsements, the airwaves and strategy to differentiate themselves from the pack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Craft is going to be, \u2018I saw her ad and like her.\u2019 I think Cameron is going to be, \u2018I\u2019m familiar with him. He\u2019s got the Trump endorsement,&#8217;\u201d said GOP strategist and former Quarles campaign manager Tres Watson.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cAnd Quarles is going to be more kind of, \u2018I know that guy, he\u2019s been elected twice statewide by very large margins, and he\u2019s got the strongest grassroots network.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In recent weeks, the already contentious primary has grown more heated.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joesonka\/status\/1656725614068473857\">A pro-Cameron super PAC mailed flyers<\/a>\u00a0showing a picture of Craft with $100 bills thrown over her. \u201cKelly Craft Trying to Lie &amp; Buy Her Way to Frankfort,\u201d the mailer read, encouraging readers to go to \u201cOklahomaKelly.com\u201d \u2014 a nod to the accusation that Craft is a carpetbagger.<\/p>\n<p>Cameron has needled Craft about not getting Trump\u2019s endorsement during a recent debate hosted by the Kentucky Educational Television (KET) \u2014 an endorsement Kentucky-based GOP strategist Scott Jennings said is \u201cprobably enough to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cKelly, you spent six months telling folks that you were going to get the Donald Trump endorsement. You had him at the [Kentucky] Derby last year. And then I got the endorsement, and your team has been scrambling ever since,\u201d Cameron said during the KET debate.<\/p>\n<p>Craft, who launched attack ads against Cameron along with a group supporting her during the primary,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_AustinHorn\/status\/1651248646149603330\">sent out a mailer late last month<\/a>\u00a0depicting the faces of Cameron and Beshear as \u201ctwo sides of the same coin.\u201d She\u2019s also enlisted the support of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in the final stretch before Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the final days of the primary, Kelly continues to crisscross the Commonwealth to meet Kentuckians who all want the same thing: removing woke ideologies from our schools, fighting the fentanyl crisis, and growing the economy,\u201d Craft campaign spokesperson Weston Loyd said in a statement to The Hill.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThese are all issues that Kelly is familiar with, and her experience helping President Trump rip up NAFTA and standing up to the Chinese Communist Party enables her to hit the ground running as Governor on her first day in office,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Quarles has managed to avoid quarreling between the other two candidates while\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ib1KoK_S3Hg\">launching an ad notably called \u201cMud Slingin&#8217;\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to take implicit jabs at Cameron and Craft for launching negative ads or for not participating in debates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only poll I\u2019m worried about is the one on May 16 when this election concludes, but we\u2019re focused on nobody\u2019s race but my own,\u201d\u00a0Quarles told The Hill in an interview. \u201cWe have been able to stay out of the negativity of this race and just focus on ideas, and I think a lot of Republican primary voters will reward me for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>While Republicans have brushed off the idea that the members of the party will have a hard time unifying around the eventual nominee even as opposition ads and critical comments have piled up, the state GOP is notably holding <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rpk.org\/republicans-go-into-fall-election-with-unprecedented-voter-registration-advantage-party-chair-calls-for-display-of-republican-unity-post-primary\/\">a\u00a0unity event<\/a>\u00a0following the primary to avoid any post-primary tension.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing you hear consistently is, \u2018I\u2019ll be glad when it\u2019s over so we can all be on the same team again,\u2019\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not feel that way in \u201919,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cThere were bunches of Republicans who had no interest in supporting Matt Bevin \u2026 and ultimately did not. And I just don\u2019t sense that this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>One variable throwing some uncertainty into the race is voter turnout, which the Kentucky Secretary of State projects could be around 10 percent,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wlky.com\/article\/kentucky-primary-secretary-of-state-low-voter-turnout\/43842894\">according to WLKY News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Republicans believe they\u2019ll have a strong case to make against Beshear no matter who the nominee is, with Republicans pointing to voters\u2019 party affiliation in the state as one data point.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Registered Republicans overtook Democrats in Kentucky <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/elections-kentucky-voter-registration-mitch-mcconnell-congress-ba56602785c07bc4a11534c6859fa7c3\">last year<\/a>. According <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/elect.ky.gov\/Resources\/Pages\/Registration-Statistics.aspx\">to data<\/a>\u00a0from the Kentucky Secretary of State\u2019s office, there were around 53,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in April. In November 2019, by comparison, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 213,000.<\/p>\n<p>Beshear \u201cwon with 5,000 votes in 2019. We\u2019ve increased voter registration by well over 100,000 Republicans since then,\u201d said one GOP strategist in the state. \u201cAnd so the fundamentals in this election could not be \u2026 better for whoever the Republican nominee is. Having the [GOP] nomination is one of the best attributes any candidate running for office in Kentucky can have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Democrats and Republicans acknowledge beating Beshear will be no easy feat given his unusually strong <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roval ratings in a state Trump won by double digits in 2020. Beshear\u2019s approval rating was at 63 percent in a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/morningconsult.com\/2023\/04\/19\/joe-manchin-jon-tester-approval-rating\/\">Morning Consult poll<\/a>\u00a0released last month and at 61 percent in a<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/621928600\/KY123Poll\"> Mason-Dixon Polling &amp; Strategy poll<\/a>\u00a0from January.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Contarino, a Kentucky-based Democratic strategist who\u2019s worked on gubernatorial campaigns around the country, said he thinks Beshear \u201chas broad support among independents, and I think he has demonstrated with 61 percent approval rating that he\u2019s got some percentage of Republicans actively supporting him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Colmon Elridge, chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, likes the party\u2019s odds, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe notion that he cannot work in a bipartisan way is just fiction,\u201d Elridge said, pointing to the funding secured for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project that received bipartisan support. \u201cWhat he has done and what he continues to stand up against is cruelty and overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, Republicans say they\u2019ll need to adequately make the case against Beshear while also offering their own vision for the governor\u2019s mansion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got to walk and chew gum at the same time,\u201d the GOP strategist said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that we educate Kentuckians about the record of the governor, but we also need to make sure that we present a plan for how we would lead with a vision for a Republican governor, what a blueprint would be for a Republican governor [on] day one in office.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4002550-kentuckys-bitter-gop-governor-primary-comes-to-a-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kentucky\u2019s contentious GOP gubernatorial primary is drawing to a finish Tuesday in a race that poses high stakes for the party looking to unseat Gov. Andy Beshear (D). State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, former U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft and Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles have regularly polled as the three main front-runners in the crowded Republican&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":574448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/camerondaniel_craftkelly_050123ap_kentucky.jpeg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134417,117,134343,10574,90482,40445,4965],"class_list":["post-574447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-blog-briefing-room","tag-business","tag-campaign","tag-education","tag-house","tag-media","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}