GOP's Bevin defeats Conway in Ky. gov.'s race
LOUISVILLE — Matt Bevin became the first governor from Louisville and Lt. Gov.-elect Jenean Hampton became first African American to win statewide office in Kentucky on Tuesday as Republicans rolled to victories in several key races.
Democrat Jack Conway failed to roll up the large margin in Jefferson County he needed and couldn't minimize losses elsewhere as Bevin grabbed large margins throughout the rest of the state.
The Associated Press called the race for Bevin at 8:16 p.m. ET. With 100% of the vote counted, Bevin defeated Conway 53% to 44%.
Independent Drew Curtis drew less than 4%.
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In his acceptance speech from the Galt House in Louisville, Bevin called for Republicans and Democrats to band with him as he begins the effort to confront Kentucky's challenges. "Do not forget we are one Kentucky. Black, White. Rural. Urban," he told the crowd.
He also called for changing the tenor of the politics in Kentucky and noted that he had run a positive race. While he was running mostly positive ads, the Republican Governors Association was filling the air with $5 million in attack ads about Conway.
Despite the fact that some Republicans feared that Bevin didn't make inroads with the GOP establishment in the state, in some ways he had the wind at his back in the election.
President Obama has low approval numbers in the state, in large part due to environmental policies that are seen as being bad for the coal industry.
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And while Bevin originally ran largely on economic issues, his campaign pivoted toward social issues as the gay marriage issue blew up in Kentucky with a federal judge sending Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to jail because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses. He called for Gov. Steve Beshear to issue an executive order freeing Davis of the responsibility of issuing the licenses and had his photo taken with Davis.
State Senate President Robert Stivers, a fellow Republican, called Bevin's win a "total repudiation" of the Democratic Party in Kentucky as well as Obama's policies on coal and health care.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis in her legal battles, also claimed that Bevin's victory was due in part to the Davis saga.
“There is no question that the issue of religious freedom and same-sex marriage played a role in the results. The people favor traditional values and marriage, and they are tired of the political elites represented by Governor Beshear who are out of touch with ordinary, God-loving citizens," he said.
As governor, Bevin has called for an austere budget to pay down Kentucky’s state worker pension program’s unfunded liability, and he has promised to move new teachers over to a 401(k) type program rather than a traditional pension. As governor, Bevin has promised to do away with the Kynect insurance portal, rescind the state’s Medicaid expansion and push for the Kentucky General Assembly to institute pro-business policies like so-called right-to-work and lawsuit reform.
In other races on the ticket, Democrats underperformed against the Republicans, with incumbent Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes the only Democrat who clearly held onto office. Auditor Adam Edelen was ousted, and the GOP was positioned to possibly overtake Andy Beshear, the governor’s son, in the race for attorney general.
The victory was near complete with Bevin winning all but about 15 of Kentucky's 120 counties, including stalwart Democratic counties like Pike and Woodford.
For Conway, it was his second statewide loss in five years, having lost to Rand Paul in the 2010 U.S. Senate campaign. And like in that race, Conway was facing the opponent that he wanted — a Republican who was not part of the GOP establishment.
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Both times he tried to portray his opponent as too far right for even Kentucky’s conservative electorate, telling people in this election was a choice “between the mainstream and the extreme.”
But if he was right, voters in the Bluegrass State were ready for the extreme. In Bevin they got a candidate who has warred with the press just as he has warred with some in his own party.
He has refused to say who he would appoint to key positions, saying he hasn’t made promises to anyone.
Polls showed that Conway, who heavily outspent Bevin, had a five percentage point lead in the race even up to the last week. But Republicans contended that the millions spent on Bevin’s behalf in the last weeks slowly chipped away at that lead.
Bevin, throughout the race, said over and over again that if elected, he would owe no one for his victory and likened himself to former Democratic Gov. John Y. Brown Jr., who won in the governor’s mansion in 1979 with an outsider message.
For Bevin, it was a huge comeback from a year and a half ago when U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell thrashed him in the GOP primary. For much of the next year, he was treated largely as a pariah by establishment Republicans with ties to McConnell who were upset that he had refused to endorse McConnell after his loss.
But he squeaked through the Republican field in May and won an 83-vote victory over Jamie Comer after Comer’s former college girlfriend accused him of abusing her more than 20 years ago.
Follow Joseph Gerth on Twitter: @Joe_Gerth