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Kentucky’s attorney general wins GOP primary to take on popular Democratic governor

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron prevailed in Tuesday’s nasty and expensive Republican primary for governor by defeating his self-funding opponent, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, as well as Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Cameron will now try to unseat incumbent Andy Beshear, who is the only Democrat left holding statewide office, in what will be a closely watched general election showdown in November.

Beshear has posted strong approval numbers throughout his tenure, and he’ll once again need to win extensive crossover support in a state Donald Trump carried in a 62-36 landslide. The only poll we’ve seen testing a general election battle between the governor and Cameron came in January when Mason-Dixon showed Beshear ahead 49-40 as other Republicans performed even worse. And because the Democrat didn’t have to worry about winning renomination, he was able to stockpile a hefty $6.1 million war chest through mid-May that he can use to defend himself this fall.

Cameron, by contrast, had to get through a financially draining intra-party battle against Craft that leaves him without much starting cash. The former ambassador, with the help of a super PAC funded by her husband, spent the past two months airing ads labeling Cameron a “soft establishment teddy bear” and portraying him as hostile to the state’s coal industry.

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