Op-Ed: The Party’s Not Over…Yet
Op-Ed from T.J. Hensley In July this past year, the state Republican Party made a big show of their overtaking the Democrats in number of registered voters in Kentucky. It was an underwhelming victory, largely blown out of proportion (perhaps a foreshadowing of Republican performance in the midterms which would be held just four months...
Al Cross: Legislative session is a battleground in the governor’s race
The General Assembly is back in the state capital, and we can safely assume the governor’s not happy about it. Andy Beshear is a Democrat running for a second term, and the legislature is run by Republicans who want a fellow partisan to replace him. It’s the first time a Kentucky legislature controlled by one...
Al Cross: As she runs with a big issue, Craft raises questions about her approach
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Elections should be about issues, not just candidates. So, Republican Kelly Craft is to be commended for making the first substantive commercial in the governor’s race about one of Kentucky’s most difficult issues: drug abuse that led to 2,250 overdose deaths in 2021. We need to talk more about the issue, because...
Al Cross: For better or worse, McConnell is consequential
The contrast was stark in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. The east side was chaos, as the new, thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives failed to elect a speaker, the prerequisite for doing any other business. The west side was calm and comity, as Democrats kept nominal control of the Senate and its...
RPK Op-Ed: A Historic Year for Kentucky Republicans
Op-Ed from Republican Party of Kentucky Chair Mac Brown On a cold day in March 1854, a small group of activists met in Ripon, Wisconsin to start a political movement. It began as most political coalitions do: a group of people with diverse views, but united in opposition to the status quo: a Democrat Party...
Al Cross: Christmas gifts for Kentucky’s political elite
Before we renew this space’s 41-year tradition of imaginary but fitting Christmas gifts for Kentucky political figures, here’s a plea for some real gifts for folks who really need them: the people of Ukraine, who are standing up to a vicious bully for our common cause of freedom; and the thousands of people in the upper Kentucky...
Al Cross: Beshear is no longer an underdog, but he’s not the favorite, either
When Gov. Andy Beshear was sworn in three years ago Saturday, he was a fluke, elected by just 5,136 votes (less than 0.4% of the total) due to controversial utterances by incumbent Matt Bevin. Republicans won all the other statewide offices going away, including a first-time candidate who defeated a former Miss America. Three months...
Op-ed: Kentucky Democrats Need a “New Deal”
Op-Ed from T.J. Hensley This Midterm election cycle will likely be recorded with an asterisk in the history books. A poor midterm performance for the party which occupies the White House is the general rule of thumb in American politics, with the President’s party often suffering an average loss of almost thirty seats in the...
Al Cross: In politics, John Y. Brown Jr. was a reformer who delivered
The first time I was in a helicopter, and the first time I covered a race for governor, was the first time I met John Y. Brown Jr. It was the Monday after the 1979 Kentucky Derby, and Brown was using a helicopter to make up for his late-starting candidacy, choppering from town to town,...