WWith the Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary just days away, contenders are looking to woo Republican voters by campaigning on the state’s biggest issues.
The top three GOP candidates are Attorney General Daniel Cameron, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. A total of 12 people are running to be the Republican Party’s choice for governor.
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These are the issues the major candidates are focusing on as the May 16 primary approaches.
Daniel Cameron, Kelly Craft, Ryan Quarles
Transgender rights
Transgender issues are likely to loom large in the fall campaign for governor. Whoever wins the Republican primary will face Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), who has made it clear he will defend transgender rights, especially in education.
Craft, who follows Cameron, leaves no room for debate about her stance on transgender issues. His running mate, Republican state Sen. Max Wise, introduced legislation on transgender youth this year.
During a debate this Wednesday, she said that, if elected, “we will not have transgender people in our school system.” However, he did not address the specific policies he envisioned.
In response to the pushback on Craft’s comments, her campaign clarified that “Kelly was referring to the woke ideologies being pushed in our schools,” her campaign said in a statement to the Associated Press. “He has been advocating for the best for all children throughout this campaign.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks during a press conference in Frankfort, Kentucky, on September 23, 2020.
Timothy D. Easley/AP
Cameron also has a history of legislating for transgender rights, particularly in sports. He joined a coalition of attorneys general that filed a brief in late January to block the Biden administration from enacting laws that would allow biological males to compete on women’s sports teams.
“Kentucky female athletes deserve the opportunity to compete on a level playing field,” Cameron said at the time. “This filing represents our latest effort to preserve the integrity of women’s sports and ensure that schools in the Commonwealth are not forced to follow illegal federal guidance that conflicts with Kentucky law.”
Beshear vetoed a bill in March that would have banned access to gender transition health care and mandated bathroom use for transgender youth: Cameron said he would have “absolutely” signed the bill if was governor The GOP-dominated Legislature overrode the veto a few days later.
Cameron said at the time of Beshear’s veto that allowing transgender children to receive gender transition health care is the “exact opposite” of how Kentuckians should support children hoping to transition.
Quarles, who typically avoids criticizing or attacking his opponents, said during Wednesday’s debate that he believes transgender health decisions are an issue for parents. He added that it is already illegal in Kentucky for minors to consent to surgery.
Fighting the Biden administration and the “radical left”
Cameron and Craft have put attacks on the Biden administration, “woke” ideologies and the “radical left” at the forefront of their respective campaigns.
Craft has used her experience as a former ambassador to attack the Biden administration over the cost of living and the rise of drugs in Kentucky. During her campaign, she touted her expertise on economic issues as the US ambassador to Canada and the United Nations under the Trump administration. Trump has backed Cameron.
Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft speaks with supporters during a campaign stop in Liberty, Ky., Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Timothy D. Easley/AP
In several videos, he has criticized President Joe Biden over the crisis on the southern border and the policies that closed several of Kentucky’s coal plants and raised energy costs. He also used the closing of a coal plant in West Virginia to bash Cameron, as the plant provided electricity to thousands of residents in eastern Kentucky.
Cameron has also taken aim at Biden and left-wing policies, though he was once linked to a criminal justice group that supported bail reform. In recent years, he has filed several lawsuits against the administration, not only in athletics, but on issues related to Waters of the United States and Title 42.
He has also challenged the Biden administration’s decision to cancel the Keystone Pipeline and halted vaccine mandates for private companies. Cameron has anti-ESG (environmental, social and governance) policies, which has led him to blast both Beshear and Biden.
armed violence
Gun violence will be a hot topic heading into both the primary and general elections, as candidates must discuss plans to prevent mass shootings in the wake of the Louisville shooting that left five dead, several injured and one. officer in critical condition.
Kentucky does not have a “red flag” law that keeps firearms away from people who are considered a danger to themselves or others. In neighboring Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee (R) asked the state legislature to enact a measure that would strengthen those laws.
GOP candidates in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race have kept a low profile on the shootings and danced around the issue during debates.
During a debate on April 17, a week after the Louisville shooting, Cameron took the approach of praising law enforcement.
“If you’re in law enforcement here tonight, will you stand up? Thank you for being willing, as those good officers were on Monday, to run into danger while others are running away,” Cameron said.
He said in an interview with WKU Public Radio after the shooting that he’s not “for gun control.” Cameron said he would not support a red flag law either.
“I know some people, especially in Louisville right now, are responding to this moment. But we live in a fallen world, and there are broken people, and we see sin and things happen,” Cameron said. “It’s a tragedy when it happens, but the answer, in my view, is not gun control.”
FILE – Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles answers a question from the moderator during the Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary debate in Louisville, Ky., March 7, 2023. Echoing his Kentucky roots and avoiding, at least For now, an increasingly combative contest between two rivals, Republican gubernatorial candidate Quarles unveiled his first campaign TV ad on Wednesday, April 26, after months of being overshadowed on the airwaves. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool, File)
Timothy D. Easley/AP
Both Craft and Quarles have emphasized the need for mental health reform. Quarles pushed his office’s program called “Raising Hope,” which focuses on mental health in rural Kentucky, while Craft said he would plan to strengthen mental health services and “will not touch the Second Amendment.”
“When we see someone struggling, we have to check it out, but I’m also a supporter of the due process rights that are afforded in the Constitution,” Quarles said.
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Craft has pushed ads attacking Cameron for his overall crime-fighting record, calling him Kentucky’s “soft teddy bear on crime.” Dozens of law enforcement officials came to Cameron’s defense and the have supported as governor.
“Daniel understands the law enforcement community and knows that what we need is real leadership that comes from action, not tough talk in a 30-second ad,” a group of police officers and prosecutors said in a statement . “Daniel has taken decisive action to improve public safety in Kentucky since his first day in office.”
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