Kentucky Republicans choose Cameron to challenge Democratic Gov. Beshear
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[May 17, 2023]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) -Republican voters in Kentucky on Tuesday chose Daniel
Cameron, the state's popular conservative attorney general, to challenge
Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, setting up one of the most closely
watched elections of the year, according to an early call of the race by
the Associated Press.
Cameron, who is Black and has a rising national profile among
conservatives, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. With 39%
of votes counted Tuesday night, he led his nearest opponent by more than
20 points.
Republicans also voted to renominate incumbent Secretary of State
Michael Adams, who fended off a challenge by a candidate who endorses
false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by
Democrats, according to the AP's call.
A dozen candidates battled for the Republican gubernatorial nomination,
with three emerging as the leading contenders in public polls: Cameron,
who is the state's first Black attorney general; Kelly Craft, a former
U.N. ambassador under Trump; and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan
Quarles.
Cameron will face Beshear, who enjoys high approval ratings despite
being a Democrat in a strongly Republican state and is seeking his
second term as governor, in the November general election.
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Trump won Kentucky in the 2020 election against Democrat Joe Biden by
more than 25 percentage points.
While Cameron had Trump's official endorsement, other candidates also
sought to claim the mantle of Trump's "Make America Great Again"
movement.
"The role of Donald Trump, the man, may be different from the role of
Trumpism, the political orientation," said Stephen Voss, a University of
Kentucky political science professor. "These candidates cannot afford to
ignore the Trump vote."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to challenge Trump for
the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, on Monday endorsed Craft.
Craft, 61, whose husband is a billionaire coal magnate, poured millions
of dollars from her personal wealth into the campaign. Her allies
attacked Cameron as a political insider and highlighted his ties to
Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky U.S. senator and Senate minority leader
who has clashed with Trump.
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![](../images/051723PIX/news_u12.jpg)
Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy
Beshear speaks during a memorial service for those who died from the
coronavirus disease (COVID-19), held on the Capitol grounds in
Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S., November 14, 2021. REUTERS/Jon
Cherry/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Craft focused on culture issues, including school policies affecting
transgender students, and vowed to "dismantle" the state education
department. At a recent campaign event, she said Kentucky "would not
have transgenders in our school system" if elected, according to the
Lexington Herald Leader.
A campaign spokesperson told reporters she was referring to
combating "woke ideologies" in school.
Republican lawmakers in April overrode Beshear's veto to enact a
bill that outlawed gender-affirming care for minors and permitted
teachers to refer to transgender students by their birth pronouns,
among other limits.
Cameron, 37, emphasized his record in office, reminding voters of
his lawsuits against Beshear and the Biden administration over
abortion, immigration and COVID-19 policies. In his first television
ad, he attacked Beshear for closing churches during lockdown in 2020
and said he sued to ensure religious freedom was protected.
Quarles, 39, largely avoided the fray, instead touting his rural
background and criticizing Cameron and Craft for going negative.
In the race for the party's nomination for secretary of state,
Kentucky's highest election official, Republican Adams held a
commanding lead late Tuesday with 33% of votes counted, beating his
nearest opponent with 64.4% of votes to challenger Stephen Knipper's
26.4%.
Knipper, one of two challengers, has echoed Trump's false claims
that the 2020 election was rigged and endorsed conspiracy theories
about voting machines. The third Republican in the race, Allen
Maricle, called for expanding investigations into voter fraud.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Will Dunham,
Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
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