Democratic Memo: Noise and No Leadership at GOP Debate

The chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party wants to continue to stir up Republicans as they face a gubernatorial primary turning divisive and expensive.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge released a memo on Tuesday, the day after the GOP primary debate for governor on KET.

“We saw them compete to be more extreme than each other and resort to desperate, unhinged attacks instead of focusing on issues that would improve the lives of Kentucky families,” Elridge said of the debate, which featured the top two challengers, Kelly Craft and Daniel Cameron, competing against one another for the first time. “There is no way Kentucky voters could have watched last night’s debate and think that any of these candidates is fit to be governor. 

“We’re two weeks out from Election Day, and the GOP primary has become a chaotic disaster, with each of their candidates spending more time at this debate shouting at each other than talking about real issues facing Kentuckians,” he continued. “We already have a popular governor with a proven track record of accomplishment for our Commonwealth – last night once again showed why Kentucky voters won’t replace an effective leader like Andy Beshear.”

Beshear won a first term in the Governor’s Mansion in 2019, defeating incumbent Republican Matt Bevin, by 5,000 votes in the general election. As Republicans seek to nominate their candidate to face Beshear in the fall, they continue to rejoice as GOP candidates spend millions in negative ads against one another.

The primary is May 16.