Less than 15 minutes after the state’s polling places closed Tuesday night, the Associated Press called a triumphant victory for Daniel Cameron in the Commonwealth’s Republican primary for Governor.
A protege of Mitch McConnell recently endorsed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, he’s the first major-party Black nominee in the state’s history — and now faces incumbent Andy Beshear, who easily bested token pressure from Peppy Martin and Geoff Young with 91% of the vote.
According to the New York Times and with more than 95% of votes tallied, Cameron took in 47.7% of the Republican wave — topping current Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles by a whopping 26 points.
In his acceptance speech aired by KET, Cameron thanked the “winning culture” and support from Trump, and paid courtesy to the voters who selected him as the top GOP candidate among 12 options.
As expected, Cameron lobbed several barbs at Beshear’s first term in office — one littered with natural disasters, COVID conundrums, and a Republican supermajority in the Kentucky General Assembly.
He specifically pointed to low workforce participation, inner-city crime rates, the rise of fentanyl, Beshear’s alleged support of President Joe Biden’s “open borders policy,” transgender athletes, the closure of churches and businesses during a global pandemic, and “liberal, progressive” ideologies possibly invading schools as problems not currently being addressed.
In his concession, Quarles called for unity within the Republican party, if there were to be hope to top Beshear this fall.
He won eight of Kentucky’s 120 counties — but none in west Kentucky — and said he was pleased to have made it this far in his own right.
Kelly Craft, a former UN ambassador in the Trump administration, came away with 17.2% of the vote, despite pouring in more than $11 million from personal finances.
Easily outspending the field in television and radio ad buy targeting drugs, open borders and anti-trans messaging, she had the strong endorsement of U.S. House 1st Congressional District’s James Comer.
In her concession, she thanked Kentuckians for providing her with conservative hope.
Polling data from late April showed Cameron with a large lead, with Craft in second gaining ground, and Quarles in third.
For Trigg County, things played out in the micro just as they did in the macro.
Of the 1,628 party-only votes cast on and before Tuesday (a 12.7% voter turnout), 420 went to Cameron, 346 went to Quarles and 151 went to Craft.
All seven voting stations had returned their rolls by 7:01 PM. And though County Clerk Carmen Finley noted the evening “went smooth,” she was hoping for a bit larger turnout.
Beshear, meanwhile, garnered 477 registered Democrat votes in and around Cadiz — perhaps foreshadowing what could be a close and interesting race in November.
Voting at the EOC was relatively active, and five more cast ballots in the final 20 minutes before shutdown. Polling workers Terri Vaughan, Debra Gray, Betty Killman and Stephanie Cunningham — laughing, as they called themselves the “A Team” — said more than 340 came through their doors Tuesday.
