LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Off-year elections on Tuesday in Kentucky and Pennsylvania could send early signals about the mood of voters ahead of next year's races for the White House and Congress.
The Kentucky governor's race is a table-setter for what should be a bruising general election contest. Republican voters will settle on a nominee to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has enjoyed high approval ratings but will have to fend off a GOP challenge in a state Republicans usually dominate. Two candidates with ties to former President Donald Trump are contenders in a 12-candidate field.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron turned away from a bid for reelection to run for governor, a race many Republicans think is ripe for the taking, but the primary campaign has been unexpectedly feisty. Cameron snagged the campaign's biggest endorsement from Trump and touted his legal fights defending Kentucky's anti-abortion laws, all the while challenging policy decisions by Beshear and working to tie him to President Joe Biden's administration.
With a primary win, Cameron would become the state's first Black nominee for governor by either major political party.
His main rival, Kelly Craft, mounted an aggressive campaign backed by her family's fortune. Craft pointed to her experience as ambassador to Canada and later at the United Nations during Trump's presidency. She touts her ties with government and business leaders, which she says would benefit Kentucky.
The campaign escalated into a slugfest between the Craft and Cameron camps. A pro-Craft group ridiculed Cameron as an “establishment teddy bear." Cameron backers criticized Craft's tenure as ambassador.
Another GOP gubernatorial contender, state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, stayed out of the fray, hoping to win over Republican voters turned off by the attacks.
Beshear, expected to cruise through the primary over two nominal opponents, looks to draw on his family's political brand to counter the state's GOP tilt. He was attorney general four years ago when he defeated then-Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Before Bevin's single term, Steve Beshear, the current governor's father, served two terms as governor.
Andy Beshear has presided over record economic growth. His term also has been marked by a series of crises — the pandemic, tornadoes, flooding and a mass shooting that killed one of his closest friends. He has received consistently high voter approval ratings, in part by settling into a role as the state's consoler in chief.
Republican incumbent Michael Adams will face two challengers in the GOP primary for Kentucky secretary of state, including a former opponent who has raised his profile by denying election victories by Democrats.
Adams, a lawyer, has worked with Beshear across party lines on election reform and soundly defeated challenger Steve Knipper in the GOP primary four years ago. Knipper is back for another run along with a third Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and TV executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former legislator who narrowly lost reelection.
Other statewide offices also are on the ballot.
