Gov. Andy Beshear, left, and Attorney General Daniel Cameron took to the KET debate stage earlier this week. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

For months, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and his challenger, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, have made their cases to voters about why they are better suited to lead Kentucky over the next four years.?

Both candidates have held campaign stops across the commonwealth, spoken to organizations and met for five gubernatorial debates this October.?

With Election Day just days away — Tuesday, Nov. 7 — here’s what Beshear and Cameron have said about their views on abortion, education, public safety, transgender issues, the economy, Medicaid, and energy and environment.?

Abortion

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a Kentucky law automatically went into effect that has no exceptions to allow abortions except in cases to save mothers’ lives. That fall, Kentucky voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have removed an implied right to abortion in the state constitution.?

Beshear’s campaign released multiple ads addressing abortion, including one that features a victim of childhood sexual abuse who became pregnant but later miscarried, though they do not specifically use the word “abortion.”?

In September, Cameron said in a radio interview that he would sign legislation adding exceptions for cases of rape and incest to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban if the General Assembly passed it. Such legislation has been introduced by lawmakers in the past, but has not been passed.?

Cameron later during a campaign stop indicated he would only add the exceptions “if the courts made us change that law.”?

The attorney general has repeatedly called himself the “pro-life candidate” in the race and has been endorsed by Kentucky Right to Life and Northern Kentucky Right to Life.?

“My views on this are shaped by my faith and I think we have a responsibility to our unborn to keep them alive,” Cameron said in an KET Connections interview before adding that he knows abortion is a sensitive topic for many.?

Beshear has said he supports some restrictions on abortion, such as banning late-term abortions. During a gubernatorial debate at Northern Kentucky University, the governor called Kentucky’s current abortion law “one of the most restrictive laws” in the country and said that it should be changed.?

“The right way to make that decision is the way it used to be made under Roe v. Wade, taking it out of the hands of politicians, and ultimately, allowing courts to balance access because that little girl might not know what she’s going through for a period of time, along with the most recent scientific evidence,” Beshear said.?

Education

Both Beshear and Cameron released their education policy plans, which include proposals for increasing teacher pay.??

Cameron, who has dubbed his the “Cameron Catch-up Plan,”? focuses on improving Kentucky students’ performances that he says have declined because on school closures and virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic.?

The attorney general’s plan includes increasing the starting base rate pay for new teachers to $41,500 and funding a 16-week tutoring program for math and reading during summer breaks and after school. Cameron is also calling to add a reading interventionist to every school district, ensure that all school districts are complying with state laws that require school resource officers who serve as school police, establish a student teaching stipend, give superintendents a discretionary fund to pay experienced teachers and recruit former teachers back to the profession and new mid-career individuals.?

Throughout his campaign, Cameron has attempted to win over Kentucky educators, a group that strongly backed Beshear’s election against former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. While introducing his education plan, Cameron said in a press conference that he wants educators to have a new relationship with Republicans.?

“I know that you might have some apprehensions about me — or for that matter — any Republican nominee for governor,” Cameron said. “So, let me just simply say: I’m sorry. Sorry for any comments that have made you feel less than value, or have led you to have serious misgivings about the Republican Party on the topic of education.”??

Meanwhile, Beshear has looked to educators to support his campaign once again. In his “Education First” plan, a proposal for the state’s 2024-26 budget, Beshear called on the General Assembly to fund an 11% pay raise for all Kentucky school personnel, which would raise starting teacher salaries to an average of $42,191, using National Education Association data.?

“When all you do is raise the starting salary it creates compression and you lose teachers that may have three, four, five, six or seven years of experience when they’re paid almost the exact same thing as someone who is brand new,” the governor said during a press conference about his proposal.?

Beshear has continued to call for funding universal pre-K for Kentucky students, saying that such a program would improve reading scores by making sure every child is ready for kindergarten and is an opportunity to screen children for learning challenges. The governor also proposed the legislature fully fund student transportation. Bus driver shortages have created problems for school districts, and came to a head earlier this year when Jefferson County Public Schools were forced to temporarily close following the first day of school because of the lack of drivers.

Other parts of Beshear’s education plan include fully funding teachers’ pensions and medical benefits and make no increases to health insurance premiums for school employees, supporting a student loan forgiveness program for teachers that gives a maximum $3,000 annual award for each year of employment as a Kentucky public school teacher, providing funding for professional development, giving dollars to replace textbooks and other instructional materials, and assembling staff at regional Social Emotional Learning institutes.?

Throughout multiple debates, Beshear pressed Cameron about his support of school vouchers, which would allow public funding to follow students who attend private schools. Beshear said such vouchers would “defund tens of millions of dollars” from public schools.?

Cameron said during the August press conference for his education plan that he supports “expanding opportunities and choices around Kentucky,” and gave a similar answer during the WKYT debate. Additionally, Jeff Yass — a Wall Street billionaire and crusader for charter schools — is a large contributor to conservative super PACs supporting Cameron against Beshear. During a GOP primary debate in Louisville, Cameron said “yes” when asked if? he supported vouchers and charter schools.?

Public Safety

Beshear and Cameron released plans to improve public safety in the commonwealth.??

In the state’s 2024-26 budget, Beshear wants more money for training, body armor and raises for law enforcement. The General Assembly, which has a Republican supermajority often at odds with Beshear, will decide the next budget during the upcoming legislative session starting in January.?

The governor also proposed changes to law enforcement pensions, such as moving all law enforcement pension plans back to defined benefits as well as increasing pension income for retired KSP troopers and local jurisdictions in those plans; a $2,500 raise for all KRS Chapter 16 employees, which includes troopers, vehicle enforcement officers and more; raising the current $4,300 training stipend for local law enforcement officers to $4,800, building on a $300 increase in the current budget and making part-time local law enforcement officers eligible for the stipend; and making grant funds available to upgrade body armor for local law enforcement officers.

“These are real steps, real actions,” Beshear said after introducing his plan in August. “It’s one thing to say you back the blue and it’s another to do something about it, to provide the resources, to take the steps that improve public safety.”

Cameron’s public safety plan largely focused on addressing crime in Louisville. He said, as governor, he would oppose subpoena powers for civilian police review boards and support giving Kentucky law enforcement officers a $5,000 bonus to improve recruitment and retention. Additionally, he was endorsed by the Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police, a group that previously endorsed Beshear during the 2019 election.?

His other plans include the legislature authorizing Kentucky State Police to conduct wiretaps; establishing a KSP post in Louisville; reforming the Kentucky Parole Board by increasing the vote threshold for release and giving the governor the power to remove members at-will; increasing penalties for drug traffickers, such as allowing murder charges against drug dealers when someone dies from a substance they distributed; using overdose mapping tools to rapidly increase resources to drug hot spots; mandating DNA collection for serious felonies, such as rape, murder or burglary, and ensuring protections to automatically purge DNA if a case is acquitted or dismissed with prejudice; and supporting Group Violence Intervention efforts.

“Public safety is the first responsibility of the government,” Cameron said when unveiling his plan in July. “We don’t have streets that are safe. Our economy and our schools suffer. Every Kentuckian has the right to live and move freely around their community without fear.”?

Transgender issues

After the General Assembly passed the controversial anti-transgender law, Senate Bill 150, Beshear vetoed the measure, setting the stage for gender to become a topic in the governor’s race. At the time, Beshear wrote the legislation “allows too much government interference in personal healthcare issues and rips away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children.”

However, the General Assembly easily overrode the veto, enacting the measure into the law. The legislation bans gender-affirming medical care for anyone under 18, allows teachers to misgender trans kids, regulates which school bathrooms kids can use and limits the sex education students can receive. Portions of the law have been challenged in court and school districts have debated how to adopt the law into their policies.?

Beshear’s veto quickly drew ire from Republicans, including Cameron. The attorney general, whose office has defended the law, claimed Beshear supports “sex change surgery and drugs” for minors.?

In a campaign ad, Beshear refuted Cameron’s claims, saying he “never supported gender reassignment surgery for kids.” Later, Beshear also told reporters that if the bill had only been about banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors, he would have signed it.?

Cameron has also criticized Beshear for his veto of a law banning transgender women and girls from playing on female sports teams at their colleges or schools. The General Assembly overrode that veto too. Cameron’s running mate, Republican state Sen. Robby Mills of Henderson, was the primary sponsor of that legislation.?

“This (Beshear) is a governor that told you he would not protect women’s sports from biological males,” Cameron said at the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce debate. “If you are a parent or a grandparent of a child who is playing in women’s sports, imagine having a governor that will not stand up for that child.”

Economy

When campaigning, Beshear often touts his administration’s economic record, saying Kentucky has seen record job creation and investment during his tenure. He points to the state funding critical infrastructure projects, like four-laning the Mountain Parkway and building the Brent Spence Bridge without tolls.?

“We have been through a lot together — a global pandemic tornadoes, flooding, wind storms, ice storms — yet here we stand on the biggest, best economic win streak this state has ever seen,” Beshear said during the WLKY debate.

Cameron, however, paints a different picture. The attorney general faults Beshear, along with Democratic President Joe Biden, for inflation in Kentucky. Cameron criticizes Beshear for low workforce participation.?

“Tonight, you’re going to hear Andy Beshear tell you that the economy couldn’t be better,” Cameron said during the same WLKY debate. “But chances are you don’t feel that way because inflation is destroying your wallet.”?

According to a press release from the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate in September was 4.1%, and the preliminary September 2023 jobless rate was up 0.1 percentage point from August 2023 and up 0.1 percentage point from a year ago.

On the campaign trail, Cameron has voiced support for eliminating the state income tax and vowed to sign legislation doing so as governor. The attorney general has often criticized Beshear for vetoing a 2022 bill that would have shaved a half-percent from the income tax rate, which the legislature easily overrode.?

This year, Beshear signed legislation that makes another half-percent cut to the state income tax from 4.5% to 4%, beginning in? 2024. The law was a Republican priority during the last legislative session.?

At the time, Beshear said in a video that he decided to sign the legislation, which most Democratic lawmakers had opposed, because of Kentuckians’ need for relief from inflation, but thought reducing sales tax would have been a better solution.

“So what I’m faced with is a bill that would lower the income tax that has some long-term repercussions for potentially funding state services, but it would put at least a couple $100 in the pockets of most Kentuckians at a time when they need it,” the governor said.??

In their final debate hosted by WKYT, Beshear said he does “want to continue to make those cuts but we’ve got to do it wisely and carefully, not rashly.” As part of its legislation, the General Assembly required state finances meet certain thresholds in order to continue lowering the income tax, but they were not met this year.?

Cameron also frequently critiqued Beshear for commuting the sentences of 1,870 inmates who were medically vulnerable or near the end of their sentences and who had not been convicted of violent or sexual offenses early on in the coronavirus pandemic because of overcrowding in facilities. Cameron’s campaign released in October data showing “nearly 70 percent of the prisoners released by Beshear have recommitted offenses.”

But most of the crimes were committed after the end of the inmates’ original release dates. A spokesperson from the Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet told the Kentucky Lantern that, according to data from the Department of Corrections, as of August 2023, “fewer than 10% have been convicted of a felony prior to their original projected release, which is lower than the current statewide recidivism rate.” Additionally, as of early October, two people who received a commutation had been convicted of a “violent crime” as defined by state law before their original release date, or 0.1% of those commuted.?

Medicaid

Part of Cameron’s plan to increase workforce participation in Kentucky is to support workforce requirements for abled-bodied people who receive Medicaid, as he has said repeatedly.?

Both Beshear and Cameron were asked about their views on expanding work requirements for those who receive Medicaid during their debate at Northern Kentucky University. Beshear expressed opposition to the idea.

“Health care is a basic human right, and the best way to get people back to work, is to get them healthy enough,” the governor said. “Tearing away their health care coverage while they’re trying to get there won’t help our workforce participation at all.”

After he was elected, Beshear signed an executive order rescinding planned Medicaid work requirements from the Bevin administration.?

In his answer, Cameron said the state does not have the workforce to support the businesses and new hospitals that Beshear touted. Cameron pointed to a nursing shortage in the state.?

“The decision that he has made is to expand our welfare rolls, and tell folks to stay at home,” Cameron said. “And then, to add insult to injury, he had an unemployment office that was not providing unemployment funding to those people who were staying at home,” a reference to difficulties signing up for unemployment benefits during the pandemic.?

Energy and environment

During the Paducah debate, Beshear and Cameron were asked what the state can and should do to promote advanced nuclear energy and new technologies. Operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant ceased in 2013 and the site is under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Energy.?

In his response Beshear said the federal government “did not treat this region right,” after pulling out of the plan and noted the importance of the plant and nuclear industry to the region.?

“I believe in an all-of-the-above energy strategy where we nurture our traditional energy industries while welcoming other and new jobs in,” the governor said.?

Cameron said in his answer that he too believes in an “all-the-above energy strategy” and understands the importance of nuclear energy to the Paducah region.?

“But even beyond that, the governor just mentioned that he is about the all-of-the above energy strategy, but he supports a president (Joe Biden) that wants to destroy the fossil fuels industry by 2035,” Cameron said. “That would devastate this economy and this region.”?

However, Beshear’s 2021 energy plan for Kentucky does not mention the phrase “climate change” and does not include plans to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. Beshear has said “climate change is real” before, including during the Paducah debate.?

When the candidates were asked in Paducah how they would preserve Kentucky’s natural energy advantages while the country moves toward clean energy and carbon-free mandates, Beshear said climate change must be addressed in a? “reasonable” way.?

“Coal built this country, it built the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powering us through the Industrial Revolution and then two world wars,” Beshear said. “And despite what our people have done in mining that coal, in breaking their backs and in building this country, so much of the rest of our nation is turned away from communities that have been hurt and decimated by the downturn of the coal industry.”

Cameron, who has decried environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment practices as attorney general, vowed to continue his fight against the Biden administration if elected governor.?

“It is important that we be thoughtful about our energy portfolio here, but we need to maintain that energy independence by opening nuclear facilities, by doubling down on coal,” Cameron said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional information.?

Students gathered at the Capitol to protest SB 150, which removed access to gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Ysa Leon is questioning their future in the commonwealth. The outcome of Kentucky’s gubernatorial race this November will be a deciding factor.?

“I’ve told my family: Be prepared in November because that might change where I’m staying after I graduate in May,” said Leon, a 20-year-old nonbinary student at Transylvania University, where they are?president of the ?Student Government Association.

Leon and other transgender Kentuckians have been concerned for much of the year as Kentucky politics filled with heated discourse on the rights of trans people, specifically over what gender-affirming medical care for youth should be permitted in the state.?

After the Kentucky General Assembly passed one of the strongest anti-trans bills in the country, Senate Bill 150, Ray Loux, 17, decided to enroll in Fayette County Public Schools’ Middle College program for his senior year. He did not want to worry about which bathroom he should use, what pronouns his teachers will use and “not being able to talk about who I am with my friends in school.”

Ray is considering going to a college out of state.?

“I had a panic attack the other day because I wasn’t sure what my health care situation would look like going forward,” Ray said, as he must taper off his hormones while he is underage.?

Now, the issue of trans rights has reached the governor’s race.?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seeking a second term in office, has released a 15-second ad called ‘Parents.” It focuses on claims made by Republicans, including his opponent Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, that the governor supports “sex change surgery and drugs” for kids.

Wearing basic dad attire — a blue button down under a red quarter zip pullover — Beshear stares into the camera and says: “My faith guides me as a governor and as a dad.”?

He then repeats a familiar line — “all children are children of God” — before saying Cameron’s attacks are not true, adding: “I’ve never supported gender reassignment surgery for kids – and those procedures don’t happen here in Kentucky.”?

GOP backlash was swift, and rhetoric uplifting culture wars reached the annual Fancy Farm Picnic in West Kentucky earlier this month. Among his jokes for the day, Cameron riffed that come November Beshear’s pronouns will be “‘has’ and ‘been,’” and criticized the governor for protecting “transgender surgeries for kids.”

In a press conference last week, Cameron highlighted a letter from a University of Kentucky health clinic, stating it has performed “a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries on minors who are almost adult,” but stopped after Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for youth went into effect.?

Hours later, Beshear said in his press conference the letter was new to him, and added that had a bill that only banned gender reassignment surgeries for minors made its way to his desk, he would have signed it.?

“At the end of the day, how has this race gone here? Daniel Cameron’s taken this race to the gutter in a way that I’ve never seen,” Beshear said. “I mean, right now, I think if you ask him about climate change, he’ll say it’s caused by children and gender reassignment surgeries.”?

As politicians put a spotlight on gender-affirming medical care, advocates say the lives of trans Kentuckians — especially those of the commonwealth’s trans youth — are on the line.??

‘It’s hard to be a trans child anywhere’

Transgender youth are already vulnerable, and the way that politicians talk about trans people in general is “really dehumanizing,” said Oliver Hall, the director of Trans Health at Kentucky Health Justice Network. They work directly with transgender youth, a demographic that Hall said is being used as a “political football.”?

“It’s hard to be a kid. It’s hard to be a teenager in general,” Hall said. “And then it’s additionally hard to be a trans teenager. It’s hard to be a trans child anywhere.”

Leon, who came out as queer in 2020 and then as trans and nonbinary in 2021, said it took a lot of therapy to find themselves. At first, only their roommates and close friends referred to them with they/them pronouns in private.?

“When I heard it the first time, I felt like I took the biggest breath ever — this exhale that I’d been holding in for so long. All of this pent up anxiety was gone and I felt so good,” Leon said. “And it’s not that that fixed everything for me, but accepting yourself and having other people accept you changed my life. It changes everything for some people.”?

Kentucky’s trans youth no longer have access to gender-affirming medical care because of Senate Bill 150, which went into effect in July.?

The law, which Cameron’s office is defending against a legal challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, bans gender-affirming medical care for anyone under 18, including forcing those already taking puberty blockers to stop. It also allows teachers to misgender trans kids, regulates which school bathrooms kids can use and limits the sex education students can receive.

Beshear vetoed the legislation, but the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly easily overrode it. In his rejection of the bill, Beshear wrote that he was doing so based on the rights of parents to make decisions about how their child is treated and that the law would allow government interference in medical care.?

“Improving access to gender-affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population,” the governor wrote in his veto message.?

What someone’s gender-affirming care looks like is different for each transgender person, Leon said. They did not use puberty blockers because they came out as an adult, but socially transitioned with support from their friends and family. Gender-affirming medical care is also not always covered by health insurance companies.?

Having such laws on Kentucky’s books mixed with support from politicians running for the highest state office in the Commonwealth has “a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of trans people,” Hall said.

Some in the trans community fear that, eventually, gender-affirming care for adults could be banned as well, said Ray’s mother, Shavahn Loux. While her son is in a “better situation than a lot of kids” because he will be an adult in a few months and could regain access to health care, she said “it’s scary” to think Ray’s access to hormone treatment in general could end completely.?

“I know a number of people who were thinking about coming here and are now no longer considering it because of this,” she said. “That’s true for trans individuals and non-trans individuals.”?

When asked recently if he thought gender-affirming medical care for adults should be banned in Kentucky, Cameron told reporters that he supported “what our legislature did in protecting our children.”?

“Adults can make different decisions but this is about protecting kids and making sure that we don’t rob them of youth and innocence,” Cameron said.?

‘The right buzzwords’

After a federal judge reversed a temporary block on the health care part of the new state law Cameron issued a statement calling the treatments “experimental” and vowed that his office would continue to “stand up for the right of children to be children, free from the influences of leftist activists and radical gender ideology.”

Rebecca Blankenship, the executive director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky and the first openly transgender person ever elected to public office in the state, noted that Cameron’s defense was initially “rebuked” by the judge in the injunction, who noted that the drugs “have a? long history of safe use in minors for various conditions.”

This shows, she said, that “Attorney General Cameron is willing not only to lie to voters, but even to the courts to advance these political talking points.”

Alexander Griggs, the community outreach coordinator for the Fairness Campaign, said such messaging argues “trans people shouldn’t have autonomy over the decisions they make over their bodies” and that their medical needs are “wrong.” With that constant messaging, transgender youth may internalize it, Griggs continued.

“The more of that language that’s used, the more damage is being done,” he said.?

Leon agreed, saying that “people think they can say whatever they want, and not realize the harm that it does.”?

As a teenager, Leon said they tried their best to fit in with their cisgender peers. They turned to their church, but were presented with the option of conversion therapy, a practice that seeks to change a person’s sexual or gender identities. It has been rejected by leading medical and mental health organizations. They did not undergo the practice.?

“My mental health and my self-love improved more than I could have ever imagined after I came out as nonbinary,” Leon said.?

Beshear has taken a more moderate stance on gender-affirming medical care. Bobbie Glass, a transgender woman who testified before lawmakers against Senate Bill 150, said Beshear’s recent ad used “very specific” language to discuss his position, pointing out that he did not discuss his position on puberty blockers.?

Beshear is using “the right buzzwords” that people in the transgender community will understand, she said, adding that people who don’t understand the terms could interpret the ad to mean “he believes the same thing” they do.?

“But then, Daniel Cameron’s going to turn around and try to exploit that stuff with the language he used in his veto,” Glass said. “And so it’s still going to have the effect of just making life miserable.”??

Blankenship appreciates Beshear’s ad for “advancing the conversation, in that he’s lowering the temperature of it, and focusing on the truth.” Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky does not endorse or oppose political candidates.?

“He has been unwilling to bow to pressure from radicals to hurt us,” Blankenship said of the governor. “But at the same time, it’s difficult to point to anything that he’s done since maybe 2020, that was clearly designed to help LGBT people.”?

Members of the LGBTQ+ community have asked the governor’s administration to direct the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to track suicides within the community or where conversion therapy is happening in the state, Blankenship added.?

If Beshear is reelected, Hall hopes Beshear “will acknowledge the support that trans Kentuckians have given him” and enact executive orders to ensure policies like anti-discrimination protections for transgender people statewide.

Leon said they saw Beshear’s recent ad as “appropriate.” Ray called Beshear’s first term “empowering” for trans Kentuckians.?

“It was really nice to be able to see somebody in a position of power in Kentucky who was accepting of people like me and welcoming of us and embracing us to live in this state,” Ray said.?

A February Mason-Dixon poll released by the Fairness Campaign showed 71% of Kentucky registered voters don’t want lawmakers making the decisions about trans youth’s healthcare. But how harmful rhetoric is spread could impact public opinion, Blankenship said.?

“What the consequences will be will depend upon … the radicals’ ability to spread their message far and wide and will depend on the LGBT community’s ability and willingness to stand up for ourselves and tell the truth,” she said.?

Hall also highlighted increased rhetoric that has grown “even over the past couple of years.” According to the Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People, 27% of transgender and nonbinary young people reported being physically threatened or harmed in the past year because of their gender identity.

“It’s radicalizing people, and people are treating trans people even worse than we have been treated historically,” Hall said.?

The politics, Griggs noted, feels like a tactic to distract the public from other issues. Transgender people having autonomy over their lives shouldn’t be a partisan issue, he said.

“If we let them get away with any of it, like we give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile,” Griggs said. “Before we know it, no one will have rights.”?

Ray has embraced being openly trans because of the political spotlight on the community. He said he has “the privilege to be out and be safe at home in my life,” so that’s why he’s spoken openly with media outlets and friends.?

Ray’s friends who are trans in Kentucky’s more rural areas have “experienced a lot worse than I have since the passing of this bill,” he said. Because of that, they are not visible.?

“Ray’s quiet and unassuming and a good kid, but you never know who’s just going to have it in their mind that that’s wrong and that people like that shouldn’t exist,” his mother said.?

She’s seen some of Ray’s friends who are trans and were open about it have since “shrunk back and are not as willing to put themselves out there because they’re worried about what might happen.”?

“You’re not going to eliminate trans kids,” Shavahn said. “You’re just going to make them a lot more scared to be themselves and to let people know that they’re trans.”

Both Leon and Ray say the outcome of the November election will impact their future in Kentucky. Ray is prepared to leave the state for college if he has to.

“If Beshear loses, I think Kentucky is going to become a lot less welcoming of a place,” he said.?

Leon hasn’t decided.

“I’m kind of weighing: Do I stay here and fight for people like me and make it a better state for people like me or do I protect myself and go somewhere where I am safe?”

Correction: We have updated this story to reflect that Ysa Leon did not go through conversion therapy.

GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron and his wife Makenze during his election party on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at the Galt House in Louisville. (Austin Anthony / for the Kentucky Lantern)

Republican gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron is calling for tutoring students outside of school hours and increasing starting teacher pay to make up for the drop in Kentucky students’ performance that he blamed on school closures and virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic.?

The attorney general released the “Cameron Catch-up” plan Tuesday with press conferences in Lexington and Louisville.?

Among his policies, Cameron wants to increase new teachers’ starting base rate pay to $41,500. According to data from the Kentucky Department of Education, a teacher with a Rank 1 certificate and no experience had a minimum salary of $36,558 for the 2022-23 school year. He also wants to fund a tutoring program for students outside of regular school hours to make up for learning loss.?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is running for reelection, is scheduled to release his education budget proposal for the next legislative session on Wednesday.?

In his remarks, Cameron attempted to win Kentucky educators, a group that strongly backed Beshear’s election against former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Ahead of the 2019 election, Bevin said some students likely suffered child abuse while teachers were on strike at the Capitol. Kentucky education groups also vehemently opposed a pension reform bill backed by the Bevin administration. It started as a “sewer bill” and would have prevented future teachers from receiving defined benefit pensions.?

Directing his comments to school administrators and teachers, Cameron said his plans are offered with a “spirit of humility” and wants educators to have a new relationship with Republicans.

“I know that you might have some apprehensions about me — or for that matter — any Republican nominee for governor,” Cameron said. “So, let me just simply say: I’m sorry. Sorry for any comments that have made you feel less than value, or have led you to have serious misgivings about the Republican Party on the topic of education.”??

Cameron, whose wife Makenze taught in Oldham County Schools, said his administration will “implement the largest expansion of reading and math instruction in the history of the Commonwealth.” Cameron estimated his policies will cost around $100 million.?

He also wants to fund a 16-week tutoring program for math and reading instruction to take place during summer breaks and after school. For this, he also will ask the Republican-led General Assembly to fund bonuses for teachers who choose to participate as a tutoring program instructor and wants to work with state universities to recruit students to teach in the program as well as recruit other professionals as tutors.?

Beshear’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who is a former teacher and school administrator, criticized Cameron’s plan in a statement issued by the Kentucky Democratic Party.?

“Daniel Cameron has spent his time in office attacking our teachers and advocating to weaken our public schools with vouchers that would send public tax dollars to private schools,” she said. “The plan he rolled out doesn’t even offer raises to teachers in the classroom today, and it’s not fooling anybody.“

Other points of Cameron’s education plan are:?

• Adding a reading interventionist to every school district
• Ensuring districts are complying with state laws that require school resource officers
• Introducing a stipend for student teaching
• Giving superintendents a discretionary fund to pay experienced teachers
• Recruiting former teachers back to the profession and new mid-career individuals?

The Kentucky Department of Education in October released school report cards based on student assessments for the 2021-22 school year. At the time, Education Commissioner Jason Glass said in a statement that “the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our students and our schools as they continue to recover from the interrupted learning that occurred over the past two years.”?

The results showed that 45% of Kentucky elementary students were proficient or distinguished in reading while 38% were proficient or distinguished in math. At the middle school level, 43% of all students were proficient or distinguished in reading and 37% in math. The results showed that 44% of high school students were proficient or distinguished in reading and 36% were proficient or distinguished in math.?

In the 2018-19 school year, assessments showed that 54.6% of all elementary school students, 59.6% of middle school students and 44.5%% of high school students were either proficient or distinguished in reading. In math, 48.6% of elementary school students, 46.4% of middle school students and 35.3% of high school students were proficient or distinguished.?

During the primary election, Cameron released an education plan that he said aimed to remove politics from education. He vowed to not appoint members to the Kentucky Board of Education who “favor bureaucracy and ‘woke’ virtue-signaling over the success of our kids.” He did not mention this at the Louisville press conference.?

He did take the opportunity to criticize Beshear over his stance on transgender youth, which has become a recurring theme in his campaign. He said Beshear had undermined the “foundational pillars” such as “protecting the family unit” and “the innocence of our youth” when he vetoed a bill that prevented trans girls from playing in girls’ sports.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Measure-the-Candidate forum. (Screenshot from KFB feed)

Values was the word of the day as Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron addressed a crowd of Kentucky Farm Bureau board members and employees in its Measure-the-Candidate forum.?

He pitched himself as a politician who embodies rural ideas and criticized the absence of his opponent in the gubernatorial race, incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.?

“Of course, he will show up at the Ham Breakfast here in a few weeks, and he’ll lecture you on your values and tell you what his values are and try to bully you into thinking that your position in values should be different,” said Cameron, referring to an upcoming annual Kentucky State Fair event. “But I hope that you recognize that is not the way in which I operate, and I stand firmly with your values. I respect your values.”?

Beshear’s campaign did not specify why the governor didn’t attend.

Ahead of the forum, Cameron began his criticism of Beshear in a Tuesday statement, saying not going shows he “has turned his back on Kentucky’s farm families” and adding that it shouldn’t be surprising because “he’s been silent in the face of Joe Biden’s assault on them for years,” referring to inflation and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency.?

Cameron has joined other attorneys general in pushing back against new EPA regulations, including leading a coalition of Republican state attorneys general to oppose policy that would cut vehicle tailpipe emissions.?

In response to Cameron’s criticism, Beshear campaign spokesman Alex Floyd said that Beshear “is proud of his record delivering record-setting economic growth for our rural communities and standing up to support Kentucky farmers, especially in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters,” a nod to recent flooding in Eastern Kentucky and tornadoes in Western Kentucky, both areas with rural communities.?

The Kentucky Farm Bureau, an insurance company that represents 462,000 Kentucky families and businesses, has regularly held its Measure-the-Candidate forum to have politicians discuss agriculture and farm issues. In 2019, during his first gubernatorial campaign, Beshear participated opposite former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.?

On Wednesday, attendees asked Cameron about taxes on agriculture products and how he envisioned state agricultural dollars being used. In response, Cameron said he would work with the legislature on those policy decisions. Throughout his talk, he reiterated many of the same policy points that he’s laid out on the campaign trail, including support of work requirements for able-bodied individuals that receive Medicaid and eliminating the state income tax.?

During the Republican primary election, Cameron attended several debates and forums held with other candidates, but not all. Most notably, Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones said the attorney general initially accepted but later backed out of the KSR debate.?

After a campaign stop in Shelbyville earlier this month, Beshear told reporters that he’s “certainly willing to participate in debates,” but had not received invitations yet.?

“But listen, a debate is when you have to talk about what you’re for, not who you’re against,” Beshear added.?

Both Beshear and Cameron, as well as their respective running mates, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and state Sen. Robby Mills, have agreed to appear at the Fancy Farm Picnic next week in Fancy Farm, a community in Graves County. The annual West Kentucky political spectacle is known for fiery candidate speeches and country fair flair as locals make heaps of barbecue all day long.Recently released polls on Kentucky’s governor race shows Cameron trailing Beshear by between 4 to 10 percentage points.

Randall Weddle, then a candidate for London mayor, listens as Gov. Andy Beshear helps celebrate the opening of WB Transport's new warehouse in April 2022. (Screenshot with permission of WYMT)

Editor’s note: This story was updated Thursday afternoon with more information.

FRANKFORT – The office of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has asked the FBI to investigate circumstances surrounding controversial political contributions made to the reelection campaign of Gov. Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Democratic Party last December.

On Tuesday, Beshear’s campaign manager?announced that the campaign?and Democratic Party had refunded $202,000 in contributions that the Beshear campaign had determined were in excess of legal limits as to how much a donor can give.

The Beshear campaign and the Democratic Party originally accepted the donations as legal ones within contribution limits made by numerous people who are relatives of London Mayor Randall Weddle or employees of a company co-founded by Weddle.

But the campaign later discovered that the $202,000 actually was all charged to a credit card belonging to Weddle and his wife, Victoria, and decided to refund those donations.

Intentionally making a political contribution in excess of the limits is a crime. State law limits the amount anyone can give to a campaign for governor to $2,100 per election. The limit on how much anyone can give to a state political party is $15,000 per year.

In response to questions about whether it would investigate the matter, Cameron’s office said late Tuesday only that it was considering its options.

On Thursday, however, Cameron’s office sent a letter to the FBI asking that it conduct an investigation.

That letter, written by Deputy Attorney General Victor Maddox, said: “Please accept this letter as a formal request by the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General for the FBI to investigate the circumstances surrounding contributions in the amount of some $202,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of Andy Beshear. These contributions have been the subject of widespread coverage in statewide news outlets. The contributions were ostensibly made by numerous members of the family of London, Kentucky Mayor Randall Weddle and employees of a company he co-founded, but apparently were charged by Mayor Weddle to his personal credit card.”

Maddox stated in the letter that Cameron’s attorney general’s office could not conduct the investigation. The office, he wrote “is barred at present from investigating this matter due to controlling ethics opinions.”

Maddox was apparently referring to an opinion of the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission a few years ago that effectively said that one executive branch official could not investigate another executive branch official if the two officials were facing each other in an election campaign.

Cameron is the Republican nominee for governor in November’s election running against the Democratic nominee, Beshear.

The request from the Attorney General’s Office was sent to the FBI’s Louisville Field Office. The Louisville FBI office did not immediately reply to an email from Kentucky Lantern asking if it would grant the request.

During his weekly press conference, reporters asked Beshear about the donations and the letter to the FBI. The governor said in all of his elections, he has “advised and required that my campaign follow the letter and spirit of every campaign finance law” and to address all situations with transparency and working with regulators.

“My understanding is that the campaign has met each of those requirements, worked directly with KREF (Kentucky Registry of Election Finance), explaining everything they knew about the situation, and worked to remedy it, again, directly with the regulator,” Beshear said. “That is an open transparent way of trying to do what’s right.”

Weddle did not return a phone message left Thursday at the London mayor’s office.

Questions about the large number of relatives of Weddle relatives and friends who made large contributions to the Beshear campaign and Democratic Party were?first reported by Kentucky Lantern?on April 17.

That report focused on at least $305,000 in donations to Beshear’s campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party from family members and friends of Weddle.

The bundle of contributions was far larger than those given by traditional large donors to Beshear political causes such as Churchill Downs or the law firm Morgan & Morgan. Moreover, unlike other big donors, none of the Weddle donors had ever before made a big political contribution.

The so-called “bundling” of contributions from members of the same family or business is common – and it’s legal so long as the donor listed as making the contribution voluntarily contributed his or her own money.

Weddle, a Republican, told the Lantern earlier this year he was aware that many family members had donated to Beshear, but insisted he played no role in helping organize or raise those contributions.

Beshear’s campaign manager Eric Hyers declined to be interviewed for that Lantern report. He did respond by email to a list of questions. But his general response ignored questions about the Weddle contributions and other unusual contributions.

“With his steady leadership during difficult times as well as his work fostering a strong economy that is creating tens of thousands of jobs and attracting record private sector investments, we understand generally why many people want to support Governor Beshear,” Hyers said in his response.

After the Lantern published its report, Beshear and his campaign insisted there was no problem with its contributions.

“All of those have been voluntary,” Beshear said of the contributions. “And nothing has or ever will be promised for any type of donation.”

But on Tuesday, Hyers put out a stunning statement that said $190,000 in contributions to the Kentucky Democratic Party and $12,000 in contributions to the Beshear campaign had been refunded because that money had been donated by Randall Weddle’s credit card. Hyers said it was Randall Weddle himself who came forward to tell the campaign that the contributions were made on his credit card. Hyers said the campaign immediately reported the matter to KREF which advised making the refunds.

Since then, some Republicans have linked the Weddle contributions to a $1.4 million grant that the City of London received earlier this year from the Beshear administration to help repair sidewalks in downtown London. But a statement from the Transportation Cabinet last month said there is no such connection because the grant recipients are determined by the cabinet staff using specific criteria for that grant program.

McKenna Horsley contributed to this report.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, right, shakes hands with supporters during a June 13 campaign stop. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

SHEPHERDSVILLE — Republican Daniel Cameron’s stump speech Tuesday in Shepherdsville hit familiar themes — his Christian faith, conservative values, criticism of his rival, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.?

But there was one big departure — the attorney general did not highlight his endorsement from former President Donald Trump, who was set to appear in a Miami courtroom almost two hours later.

The campaign stop, which had a packed room at The Fish House Bar & Grill in Shepherdsville, was one of several the attorney general has made since winning the Republican nomination for governor. Last week, he went to Elizabethtown, Bowling Green and Owensboro.?

“If you all don’t take anything else from what I say today, I want to be painstakingly clear on one thing: We will retire Andy Beshear from the governor’s office,” Cameron said to cheers from the room.

Cameron bested 11 other candidates in a crowded Republican gubernatorial primary with 48% of the vote about a month ago. Throughout the long primary season, he repeatedly brought attention to Trump’s support of his candidacy. Trump endorsed Cameron early on in the race. The former president is facing felony charges after he was accused of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon.

When asked about his reaction to the latest indictment by reporters, Cameron said he is focusing on the general election and defeating Beshear.?

“I continue to say that Kentuckians have concerns about the weaponization of government power,” Cameron said. “And we’ve talked a lot about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, but there’s been no indictments there. And so I think a lot of Kentuckians have concerns about whether there are two different justice systems depending on who you are.”

His response mirrored his statement reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Louisville Courier-Journal last week after news of the indictment broke.?

Cameron also talked about education during his stop, saying Beshear’s approach has been “hostile to the teachers of Kentucky.” Cameron then referred to comments from Education Commissioner Jason Glass saying that teachers should follow their school districts’ policies when addressing transgender students as part of their employment. The issue has become a Republican talking point both among gubernatorial candidates and in the state legislature.?

Around 100 supporters attended Cameron’s Tuesday stop, which was in Bullitt County and about 30 minutes from downtown Louisville. The restaurant was packed with Republican voters, law enforcement officials, members of the General Assembly and local government leaders, including Bullitt County Judge-Executive Jerry Summers, who introduced Cameron.?

Danny and Sherrie Oldham, who are from Spencer County, attended the event because they wanted to display their support for the attorney general. They said he was their pick during the primary election. After Cameron addressed the crowd, they said they liked what he said about abortion and issues with Beshear.?

“We need a true leader, somebody who’s going to stand up to the far-left and bring us back to where we need to be,” Sherrie said. “The last three years, we have gotten way off the path.”?

Cameron told reporters Tuesday that he is still deciding on a running mate. Kentucky state law allows candidates for governor to designate their lieutenant governor pick by the second Tuesday in August, which is Aug. 8 this year.

The general election is expected to be expensive. Another round of campaign finance reports are due within the next few days. According to Medium Buying, the Beshear campaign has spent $1.61 million on TV and radio ads. DGA-affiliated Defending Bluegrass Values has spent $1.33 million and Pro-Beshear PAC Preserve, Protect and Defend has spent $47,000. Republican Governors Association’s State Solutions has spent $419,000 on TV and radio ads.?

In his final remarks to the crowd, Cameron turned his attention toward November and encouraged volunteering with his campaign or spreading the word to others.?

“There are 21 weeks essentially left in this race for governor,” he said. “I want you all to put it all on the line.”?

From left, Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Dr. Jason Smith spoke to media about a mass shooting in Louisville on April 10, 2023. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

More than a month after two mass shootings in Louisville in a single week left seven victims dead, political leaders in Frankfort are saying little about what changes may be made to Kentucky’s gun laws.?

In April, five victims died after a 25-year-old man entered Louisville’s Old National Bank and opened fire on his coworkers with an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased six days before. Days later, two victims died after shots were fired into a crowd at Chickasaw Park. The tragedies moved conversations about gun violence to the forefront of Kentucky politics.?

In the aftermath, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called for specific action from state leaders: Give Kentucky cities more power to create local gun regulations and change a decades-old state law that requires guns confiscated by law enforcement to be sold at public auction.?

Gov. Andy Beshear, whose friend Thomas Elliot, the bank’s senior vice president, died in the first shooting, told CNN that he has advocated for “red flag” laws, which are also known as extreme risk protection orders. Such laws temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms if they are at immediate risk of harming others or themselves.?

Beshear did not call a special session after the Louisville shooting, unlike Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who ordered a special session after a school shooting in Nashville. Tennessee lawmakers will meet in August.?

Beshear is seen as a centrist on gun control and has not supported banning assault weapons.

In August 2017, while serving as attorney general, Beshear signed an amicus brief led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, supporting petitioners in Kolbe v. Hogan, which challenged Maryland’s ban on semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines. Other signatures include former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin who signed via his then-legal counsel, M. Stephen Pitt. The Supreme Court of the United States later refused to review the case.?

When asked about the case last week in a news conference, Beshear said he would have to review the brief before commenting. He again referenced his support of “red flag” laws, saying they respect Second Amendment rights and give law enforcement officials a needed tool. Beshear also criticized the sale of confiscated guns.?

“’Red flag’ laws have been passed in all different types of states, including ones that would be described as red or blue or otherwise,” the governor said. “And I think it is a reasonable step here, but if the General Assembly isn’t willing to talk about that yet, can’t we all agree that the family of someone murdered shouldn’t have to watch the weapon that was used auctioned off to the highest bidder? That disrespects those that have gone through so much trauma.”?

He added the state budget could cover the money police departments may get from gun sales, which is sometimes used for items like body armor.??

Beshear, who is seeking reelection this year, will face Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron in November. In a KET debate before the May 16 primary, Cameron said he wouldn’t “support any kind of gun control.”

“The Second Amendment,” Cameron said, “is sacrosanct. We need to make sure that we protect it for Kentuckians all across the commonwealth.”

General Assembly?

Recently, 16 Democratic state lawmakers proposed policies in response to gun violence in Kentucky. Their suggestions, which they plan to bring to next year’s legislative session, include a red flag law, legal responsibility to safely store a weapon and voluntary “do not sell” lists for suicidal individuals.?

In Frankfort, Republican House Speaker David Osborne told reporters recently that “active conversations” are being had with House Republicans, state senators, Louisville leaders and other interest groups and stakeholders.?

“I think that there are some things that you will see us undertake to try to address some issues in the next session,” he said. “As to what those are, I wouldn’t speculate yet.”

In the most recent legislative session, a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary bill — prohibiting law enforcement and public funds in Kentucky from being used to enforce a federal ban on guns, ammunition and firearm accessories — became law without Beshear’s signature.??

As of Monday, Kentucky has had 301 shootings in 2023, according to national nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. From those shootings, 226 victims were injured and 101 victims were killed.

Of the 301 shootings, 167 were in Louisville.

The Kentucky city with the second-highest number of shootings in that time frame was Lexington with 38.?

Reporter Liam Niemeyer contributed to this report.

After a campaign stop, Gov. Andy Beshear takes questions from reporters. (McKenna Horsley | Kentucky Lantern)

ELIZABETHTOWN —?Rolling into Elizabethtown Friday afternoon in a chartered bus plastered with the words “Andy Beshear for Kentucky,” Gov. Andy Beshear lost little time telling workers at the Metalsa plant why he deserved four more years.

“I can’t wait to see everything we can do to continue this progress in the next four years, where we will turn these good years of economic development into decades of progress,” Beshear told the small crowd of Metalsa workers and United Auto Workers union members.?

The automotive parts plant, which employs more than 3,000 workers, was the governor’s fourth stop of the day before going to Bowling Green, along with his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman. The day started in Paducah. Over the next two days, he’ll visit eight more cities, including Lexington, Louisville, Pikeville and Newport.

In Elizabethtown, which is in Hardin County, he talked about the adversity the commonwealth has faced in recent years, including the coronavirus pandemic, tornadoes in Western Kentucky and flooding in Eastern Kentucky. But he also pointed to the investment in nearby Glendale, where the BlueOval SK Battery Park?is expected to create 5,000 jobs producing lithium ion batteries for Ford electric cars.?

“What we are seeing is hope and opportunity here in Kentucky,” he said after praising Hardin County’s local economy.?

Among those who greeted the governor Friday were Hardin County Sheriff John Ward and Brett Barnes, systems manager at Metalsa. Barnes thanked Beshear and Coleman for not only seeing the plant’s work but also “looking at the people, because the people (are) the most important part of what we do.”?

The incumbent Democratic governor will face Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the general election.?

Beshear began the year with a high approval rating among Kentuckians, according to a Morning Consult poll. He easily won his primary Tuesday with 91% of the votes.?

Republican candidates often criticized Beshear on the campaign trail and in debates for halting religious gatherings early in the pandemic amid a stay-at-home order. Things came to a boiling point on Easter Sunday 2020, when state troopers recorded license plates of people attending a church service.?

When asked about the criticism, Beshear said he’s focusing on talking about creating jobs and expanding healthcare while the other side stokes division with name calling.?

“They’re trying to divide us. They’re stoking fear and anger and hate,” Beshear said. “And I think people can see that too and know who’s living their faith and values.”

TV ads and fundraising?

Beshear had nearly $7 million?for his campaign before the primary election was held on May 16. Cameron’s final report before the primary election showed his campaign had a total of $1.5 million.?

In a tweet earlier this week, Beshear’s campaign manager Eric Hyers said the campaign raised more than $650,000 in the first 24 hours after Tuesday’s primary. On Friday, the Cameron campaign sent a fundraising email that said it is “being MASSIVELY outraised by the Radical Left machine that is running Andy Beshears campaign.”?

Medium Buying reported that Beshear’s first TV ad this election cycle will start Monday. In the 2019 general election, his first TV was released in August.?

Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said during a press call Thursday, that the party plans to rally behind Beshear and its slate of candidates during the summer months. Traditionally, the West Kentucky Fancy Farm picnic held in August, where politicians speak to energized crowds while vendors create an atmosphere of county fair and church barbecue supper, is considered the start of the general election campaigning season.?

Elridge noted Beshear’s current high approval rating and added that Democrats intend to keep it that way. Democrats plan to set the pace when it comes to messaging and not be reactionary.?

“Our opponents are going to spend an ungodly amount of money and resources trying to tear this governor apart,” the chairman said. “They’re going to spend a lot of money and time and effort telling lies about Andy Beshear that, frankly, is a waste of money because the people of this Commonwealth know who Andy Beshear is and they know who he is not.”

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the Republican nominee for governor, speaks at a press conference with other statewide GOP candidates. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT — Daniel Cameron, who won about 48% of the votes during a heated Republican gubernatorial primary, told reporters Friday that he is still mulling who will be his future running mate.?

Cameron, leading a slate of Republican nominees for statewide offices, appeared with the group at the party’s headquarters in Frankfort.?

“Starting the process of making a judgment about who that individual will be,” the current attorney general said.?

State law now allows candidates for governor to designate their lieutenant governor pick by the second Tuesday in August. For the 2023 election cycle, that date is Aug. 8.?

Some have suggested that another Republican primary gubernatorial candidate, Ryan Quarles, could be a worthy pick for Cameron. The agriculture commissioner received about 22% of the vote, unofficial election results show. He came in second Tuesday night.?

Quarles’ campaign was largely focused on building connections with rural Kentuckians and local officials. His endorsements included more than 230 from elected Republicans across the state.?

Quarles told reporters Tuesday evening after the results came in that Cameron had not asked him to be his running mate.?

Stephen Voss, a political science professor from the University of Kentucky, said the top criteria for a good running mate is that they address something the candidate doesn’t have.

“The problem is figuring out which traits or variables you want to counterbalance, right?” he said. “So, the candidate who would help counterbalance in terms of policy might be different from the candidate who helps counterbalance in terms of gender.”?

Voters do not typically vote for the running mate, but for the top of the ticket, making the electoral impact small, said Scott Jennings, a conservative commentator who has worked in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s past campaigns. In Kentucky, lieutenant governors typically have few duties as well, but they could potentially step into the governor’s role.?

“If I were choosing a running mate, I would choose someone who I was comfortable that (they) could step in and execute the duties of the office of governor. And if they could help me politically a little bit on the margins, that’s a bonus,” Jennings said. “But I think what you’re looking for here is somebody that you trust, that shares your vision and that, if something happens, you can have a seamless transition.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is Cameron’s general election opponent, has indicated that he will run again with Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman.?

As primary dust settles, attacks begin to fly

A pro-Beshear PAC, backed by the Democratic Governors Association, has already launched a website called camerondoesntcare.com, which criticizes Cameron on a number of issues, chiefly among them not appointing a special prosecutor to review pardons issued by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.?

Another DGA PAC, Defending Bluegrass Values, has placed a TV ad against Cameron on the same issue.?

In his final days in office, Bevin issued a flurry of pardons and commuted sentences of convicted criminals, drawing criticism in Frankfort and from victims’ families. Cameron later asked the FBI to investigate the pardons.?

When asked about a response from reporters, Cameron turned to criticize Beshear for commuting the sentences of more than 1,000 prisoners early in the coronavirus pandemic and cited a report that found about a third of them had since been charged with a new felony. The report did not indicate the outcomes of those charges, the Courier Journal reported.

“At the end of the day, this race is going to be about me and Andy Beshear, and Andy Beshear is the ‘catch-and-release candidate,’” Cameron said.?

Republican slate displays unity

Cameron appeared with other Republican nominees, including Secretary of State Michael Adams, who is running for re-election, and Treasurer Allison Ball, who is running for auditor. They all talked about the unity of Kentucky Republicans. The primary gubernatorial race got a bit heated with attack ads and debate sparring.?

Also joining them were Republican House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers, who said internal polling shows a generic Republican beating Beshear in a hypothetical general election.?

In January, independent polling firm Mason-Dixon showed Beshear winning against Cameron by nine percentage points. The primary election saw a limited number of public polls.?

“When you look at a little over six months, you’re going to see everyone behind me being the people who are up the streets, occupying offices,” Stivers said.?

Then President Donald Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell shown at the White House in 2017. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Daniel Cameron’s thumping victory in Tuesday’s hard-fought Republican primary makes him a stronger-than-forecast challenger to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — not just because he won big, but because of how he got there.

Cameron led in polls from the start, thanks to his name recognition as Kentucky’s attorney general and his national-level status as the first Black Kentuckian elected to statewide office in his own right. His polling lead helped him get the endorsement of Donald Trump — even though he is a protégé of Sen. Mitch McConnell, who tried to read Trump out of the party after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Cameron made much of the Trump endorsement, and rarely mentioned McConnell, explaining to NBC News that he had “to build a coalition that is large enough not only win the May 16 primary but also to beat Andy Beshear” — who had a higher popularity rating among Republicans than McConnell did in one pre-election poll.

So, McConnell didn’t publicly endorse Cameron, but I give the Senate majority leader and his political operatives partial credit for the win.

Cameron only raised $600,000 for his own campaign, so an essential element of his victory was the super PAC that spent $2.7 million attacking former ambassador Kelly Craft, who had been catching up to him by spending $11 million, a record for a primary.

The PAC got $2.2 million from a nonprofit tied to Leonard Leo, a conservative activist who helped McConnell and Trump remake the Supreme Court and recently broadened his work to other causes. For Cameron, “It helped stabilize his campaign,” McConnell adviser Scott Jennings said on KET election night.

Twice I have asked McConnell, through a spokesman, if he or anyone under his employ or direction raised money for the PAC. Twice the spokesman has not replied.

The financial maneuvers may remain officially mysterious, but it’s clear that Cameron earned the victory by following his mentor’s examples. Like McConnell at key points in his career, Cameron exercised calculated audacity.

First, he abandoned the career path McConnell apparently favored for him — re-election this year (something Cameron had publicly pledged to pursue), followed by a bid to succeed McConnell upon the senator’s anticipated retirement in 2026. With a young family, Cameron reportedly liked the prospect of working next door to the governor’s mansion rather than commuting to Washington, and he’s young enough (37) to be governor and then go to the Senate.

Also audaciously, Cameron sought the endorsement of McConnell’s enemy, Trump. That was not an abandonment of McConnell, but a taking of opportunity. McConnell understands that, and he’s also one of the few politicians who rarely takes anything personally. For him, it’s all about winning.

Like McConnell always does, Cameron ran a focused and disciplined campaign, with no reluctance to keep repeating himself to hammer home simple, key points — or to keep repeating non-answers to pointed questions, such as “Was the 2020 election fairly decided?” (We’ll keep asking, as long as Trump is for him.)

Trump’s legal troubles could make him a less effective endorser, but he carried Kentucky by 26 points in 2020, so he’s still a major asset for Cameron.

Cameron built his own asset value by getting almost 48% of the vote in a race with 12 candidates, six of whom qualified for debates, and piling up more than twice as many votes as the second-place finisher, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles (who beat expectations and would be a logical running mate for lieutenant governor, a choice Cameron must make by early August).

?In Beshear, Cameron has an opponent who enjoys strong job-approval ratings, thanks largely to his initial handling of the pandemic, and to many voters seems like a nice guy who doesn’t deserve to lose his job. Look for Cameron to argue from hindsight that Beshear’s pandemic restrictions were too strong and too long, to keep waging the culture war with gender and school issues, and to remind voters that Beshear belongs to a party that is more liberal than they are.

The race is the nation’s most important this year, already drawing lots of national money and attention. The election-night headlines in The New York Times and The Washington Post had a national focus but different takes; the Times said “Ally of Mitch McConnell wins” and the Post called him “Trump-backed Daniel Cameron.”

With McConnell for him on the inside and Trump for him on the outside, Cameron is a formidable challenger for Beshear — who still seems to have the edge, but maybe not for long.

Addendum: ?The most heartening news, from a Republican electorate that apparently thinks by wide margin that Trump’s loss in 2020 was not legitimate, was Secretary of State Michael Adams’ easy win over two election deniers. May it stiffen the resolve of his Republican counterparts around the nation.

This column is republished ?from the Northern?Kentucky?Tribune, a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, one of 12 GOP candidates for governor, speaks to reporters during a Friday stop in Frankfort. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

This story has been updated.

With a flurry of campaign stops and efforts to showcase high-profile endorsements, Republican candidates for governor are working down to the wire to make their final pitches to voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.

Turnout on Tuesday is expected to be as low as 10%. Early in-person voting began last week, meaning some voters have already made their decisions.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has continued his lead in the race according to a new poll, showcased his endorsement from former President Donald Trump in a Sunday evening tele-rally. The live event was brief, lasting about 15 minutes with Trump speaking five minutes.

“He’s a great guy. Again, I’ve known him right from the beginning of his career,” Trump said of Cameron. “I’ve been with him all the way and now he’s doing this and I have no doubt he’s gonna be a fantastic governor.”

The president, who won Kentucky’s electoral votes in 2016 and 2020, endorsed Cameron last year. On Sunday, Trump reiterated that he believed Cameron can defeat incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in the fall, and connected the governor to the far-left throughout his remarks. Trump also highlighted other points Cameron has made central to his campaign: supporting law enforcement, fighting Kentucky’s opioid crisis and bringing lawsuits against Beshear and President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft touted her endorsement from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The two headlined rallies in Louisville and Richmond.

During the Louisville rally, Cruz joined Craft on stage as “Eye of the Tiger” played, energizing the crowd gathered at The Hockensmith Barn. Cruz said that when he looks at an endorsement, he chooses “the strongest conservative who can win.” He noted Craft’s work in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement when she was U.S. ambassador to Canada, and being sanctioned by China.

“I let you in on a secret — she’s got a pretty good life,” Cruz said of Craft to the crowd. “If she wanted to spend every day of her life on a golf course or on a big boat or a big plane or a big whatever she could.”

Trump appointed Craft to her ambassadorships for the United Nations and Canada. After the Louisville rally, Cruz said he believes she will win Tuesday and in November.

Brandon Judd, president for the National Border Patrol Council, also spoke in support of Craft during her Saturday campaign stops. Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is scheduled to stump for her today in Lexington. Last week, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also served during the Trump administration, voiced support for her in a video.

Later today, Craft is scheduled to have an election eve rally at Glasgow High School, where she graduated in 1980.

Will they support the nominee?

After a final round of vehicle maintenance, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles spent the last few days ahead of the primary election on his Big Red Truck tour. Between Thursday and Saturday, he made more than 20 campaign stops across central, eastern, western and northern Kentucky as well as in Louisville’s metro region.

Quarles spoke with a handful of voters, some who had voted early for him, in Shepherdsville Saturday afternoon before going to a local festival. He told reporters he was spending the last days before the primary meeting voters and encouraging his base to vote Tuesday. He noted that his endorsements include more than 230 from elected Republicans across the state.

“We’re the only campaign that has a natural base, the farmers and rural folks of Kentucky, but we’re going after all conservatives,” Quarles said. “And with 12 candidates in the race who are all my friends, the campaign with the biggest base and the most discipline will win.”

Polling has had Quarles as a consistent third throughout the race. When asked if he plans to support the future Republican nominee in the fall, he replied: “I plan on winning the race on Tuesday and I’m going to be supporting the Republican ticket going into the fall. Andy Beshear is a blue governor in a red state and we need somebody who’s going to work with our local officials instead of suing our local officials.”

Cameron, who has been speaking to voters on his own Fight for the Commonwealth Tour with stops in Shelbyville, La Grange, and Glasgow, told reporters during a Friday stop in Frankfort he will support the eventual nominee.

“I’ll absolutely support the Republican nominee for governor,” Cameron said. “I absolutely will do that.”

Craft was also asked if she would support the future nominee during her Louisville stop.

“I’m going to support bringing conservative values back to our state, making certain that our children are taught skills and knowledge not woke ideologies, making certain that we create jobs and opportunities for Kentuckians,” she responded. “And every single day, I will fight to make sure I am the only candidate that can defeat Andy Beshear. I am the only candidate that is not owned by anyone, and I will not have the Washington establishment in Frankfort. There will be God at the table in Frankfort.”

Somerset Mayor Alan Keck, who has set himself a moderate path in the crowded Republican primary, launched a 24-hour blitz today with stops in towns including Somerset, London, Manchester, Jackson and Paintsville before overnight stops at 24-hour restaurants in Louisville and Lexington.

During a Morehead stop at the local police station, Keck said he and his team continue to feel good about the election. He added that he thinks he has energized his base to go to the polls. Keck’s Monday stops were about seeing as many communities and talking to as many people as possible.

“This is a race against time,” he said. “Maybe we’ll see that we ran out of time, but I know that the issues we’ve talked about really matter and they matter to Kentuckians. And so, Election Day is not going to be the end of it for us.”

As for who he will support in the fall, Keck said he intends to support the Republican nominee, but remained cautious against a blanket statement.

“As it stands today, I think the way that things shape up, yeah, that’ll be my intent,” he said.

State Auditor Mike Harmon has stops scheduled today for his Freedom Over Fear Tour in six Eastern Kentucky counties.

New poll

A new poll released Sunday night by Emerson College Polling and Fox 56 Lexington showed Cameron polling at 33%, followed by Craft at 18% and Quarles at 13%. Compared to the April poll, Cameron gained three points while Craft has lost six percentage points and Quarles lost two.

About 13% of voters are still undecided, the new poll showed.

The sample was 500 very likely Republican primary voters. April’s poll surveyed 900.

Daniel Cameron

Kentucky Republican candidate for governor Daniel Cameron released his plans for Kentucky’s education system if elected in November. They include raising starting pay for teachers and keeping “far-left” policies at bay.?

In a Wednesday press release, his campaign said his framework aims to “keep the far-left from indoctrinating our students” and that the attorney general “understands that our schools exist to prepare students to be productive citizens not incubators for progressive causes.”

?“Kentucky parents deserve the best possible education for their children,” Cameron said. “My framework puts parents, students, and teachers ahead of any ideology or radical influence. We have been told we need to make a choice between supporting our teachers and giving parents a say in their children’s education. That does not have to be the case, and, in my administration, that will end.”

Here’s the four points of Cameron’s framework:??

• “Defend Kentucky’s Values. I will end the teaching of Critical Race Theory and stop the Kentucky Department of Education from promoting any curriculum or policy that encourages the teaching of woke ideologies in our K-12 public-education system. Students should go to school to learn the skills necessary to be productive citizens, not to distrust or fear their classmates because of the color of their skin or to have identity politics forced on them.”
• “Raise Teacher Pay. In my first budget I will propose legislation that raises the starting-pay for teachers and ensures that no teacher’s salary is below the new starting-pay benchmark. I will also propose a bill giving a stipend to every teacher in Kentucky to help offset the personal expenses they incur purchasing school supplies.”
• “Reduce Bureaucracy. Burdensome paperwork and bureaucrats have made teachers’ jobs harder. In my Administration, I will work with educators and administrators to reduce this burden. Our teachers should be focused on teaching, not red tape.”
• “Keep Politics Out Of The Board Of Education. I will only appoint members to the Kentucky Board of Education who understand the needs of teachers, refuse to allow our students to be indoctrinated, and welcome parents’ involvement. I will not appoint members who favor bureaucracy and woke virtue-signaling over the success of our kids.”

Education has quickly become a topic in the gubernatorial election as 12 Republicans head to the May 16 primary.?

Another candidate, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft said in early February she plans to dismantle the state board of education and Kentucky Department of Education and replace them “with people who empower parents and will make sure teachers teach the ABC’s not the CRT’s.”?

After Craft’s plans were announced, another Republican nomination seeker and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck said he wants “holistic solutions to the challenges (kids) face. I’ll also fight to ensure parents have a choice and a voice in the process.”?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has supported raises for teachers and school personnel in the past. During this legislative session, he has asked the General Assembly to support his Education First Plan in response to the teacher shortage and to address learning loss students experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. It calls for funding a 5% pay raise for all public school employees on top of some recent raises school districts allocated. Beshear also is proposing universal pre-K and social and mental health services.?

The Democratic Party of Kentucky released a statement Wednesday afternoon from Executive Director Sebastian Kitchen calling Cameron’s policy on increased teacher pay and a recent announcement from another Republican candidate, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, on support of medical marijuana “major planks of Governor Beshear’s agenda.”

This story has been updated with new information.?

Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, speaks to reporters following the Senate Education Committee's vote to forward Senate Bill 150. (Photo by McKenna Horsley for the Kentucky Lantern.)

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

FRANKFORT — The Senate Education Committee voted 11-1 Thursday to advance a bill sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, Republican candidate for governor Kelly Craft’s running mate, over the objections of Sen. Karen Berg, whose transgender son recently died by suicide.?

Berg, D-Louisville, said she needed to be in the room because she wanted her colleagues to cast their votes in her presence. She said the bill, which Wise said protects the rights of parents, is about scoring points with voters in the upcoming Republican primary.

The Craft-Wise ticket “just needs to show that they are further right than the current Republican front runner,” Berg said. “That’s what this whole thing, this whole sh*t show, is. And they’re putting our children smack dab in the middle of it on purpose without a care in the world.”?

Sen. Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, who cast the lone no vote, said: “This bill offers no safe space to a child. And this bill is designed doing one thing, and that is to promote an agenda. An agenda that is not helpful, or easy, or comforting to a child, but only to harm the child.”

Wise told the committee that Senate Bill 150 aims “to ensure parental communication, inspection and authorization, as it relates to three key things: health services that are offered and recommended by schools; two, school curriculum transparency on the subject of human sexuality; and, three, the protection of First Amendment freedoms of staff and students.”?

The bill takes aim at guidance from the Kentucky Department of Education to school districts on how to support LGBTQ+ students, including using students’ preferred names and pronouns. It would prohibit the Department of Education and state Board of Education from recommending or requiring policies to keep minor students’ information confidential from their parents, ?a Senate majority press release said.?

Several speakers, including LGBTQ+ rights advocates, mental health advocates and Kentuckians who are transgender, expressed concerns about the bill. No one from the public spoke in favor of the bill.?

Miles Joyner, a transgender man from Louisville, called the vote “heartbreaking” after the meeting but said he was proud to speak.?

“We have to keep showing up, keep making our voices heard. Refuse to cower to the glares that I actually got sitting there. We can’t cower to them. We have to stand up and speak the truth.”

Wise, R-Campbellsville,? said of Craft’s support for the legislation: “Kelly’s about empowering parents. She’s also about communication lines.” In recent days, she has criticized the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky State Board of Education for “pushing woke agendas in our schools.”

Berg’s son, Henry Berg-Bousseau, 24, died by suicide in December. He had recently been promoted at the Human Rights Campaign, a nationwide LGBTQ advocacy and lobbying organization.?

The senator said Thursday that he “killed himself, guys, because he didn’t want to face this again, all over the country, in every state house.”

Senate Bill 150 received a first reading when the Senate convened Thursday. Thomas and Berg also filed floor amendments to it. Berg said one of her amendments would allow a parent to request a school district use their child’s gender-conforming pronouns and that the school district abide by that request. The second would change a reference to ” student’s original, unedited birth certificate” to just “birth certificate.”

While in session, Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, spoke in support of Senate Bill 150 while highlighting her own bill, Senate Bill 102, which also focuses on parents’ rights and would establish a process for schools to receive complaints about rights violations and give parents access to education materials. Tichenor said the Department of Education and Commissioner Jason Glass have created policies that “keep information from parents regarding their children.”

As Tichenor spoke, Berg stood and listened at the end of Tichenor’s row, feet away. Earlier in the day, Tichenor voted to move Senate Bill 150 forward.

A study of youth in grades 7-12 found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth were more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide as their heterosexual peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Some risk factors are linked to being gay or bisexual in a hostile environment and the effects that this has on mental health.

A survey of youth by the Trevor Project last year found that nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.?Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of the organization in the report pointed to “the negative impacts of COVID-19 and relentless anti-transgender legislation.”??

In his weekly Team Kentucky update, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters that he had not read the bill or heard Wise’s floor speech Wednesday. The governor said he was concerned that the bill could increase bullying in schools against students who may already feel marginalized.

“I’m struck by the callousness of introducing this type of bill. Sen. Karen Berg just almost right next to you, buried her son — what a month ago?” the governor said. He added that it showed a lack of respect and empathy.