Primary results come in quickly on Election Day; here’s how the NKY candidates did

BY LINK nky STAFF

Primary election results started coming in soon after the polls closed on May 16 – by 7:11 p.m., the Associated Press announced that Attorney General Daniel Cameron would be facing off against Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in the November race for governor.

“To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything,” Cameron told his supporters the night of the election. “Know that in this country and in Kentucky, all that matters are your values.”

But Beshear blasted the tone of the GOP gubernatorial primary after taking hits for months from the Republican candidates.

“Right now somewhere in America, there is a CEO deciding where to move their business and they’re considering Kentucky,” Beshear told a gathering of supporters. “Let me ask you: Is seeing people talk down our state and our economy, insult our people and stoke divisions going to help that next company choose Kentucky? Of course not.”

Other results came in shortly thereafter, with incumbent Michael Adams winning the Republican nomination for secretary of state; attorney Mark Metcalf winning the nomination for treasurer; and incumbent Allison Ball getting the GOP nomination for auditor.

Agriculture commissioner numbers took the longest on what turned out to be a short election night. Democrat Sierra Enlow will face Jonathan Shell in November for the role that, among other things, oversees the gas pumps throughout Kentucky.

Northern Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters said the night of the election that even though he didn’t win, he would support Cameron.

Deters said he expected Cameron to win based on the polls, and that it was his first statewide race and he had no statewide press.

“I started out at 1%,” Deters said. “I went from 5% to 6% in the polls, and then I got up to 10% in the last poll, and I hope I finish 10%. So, I’m going to beat Mike Harmon. I’m going to beat Alan Keck. And I literally got no statewide press.”

Deters ended up with just under 6% of the vote. David Cooper, Northern Kentucky’s other gubernatorial candidate, ended with 0.8% of the vote.

And while long lines became the story of the November election in Northern Kentucky – at least in Kenton County – that problem didn’t appear to re-emerge with the 2023 primary.

Turnout in NKY fell in line with figures from previous primaries with ballot cast percentages clocking in at 11.52% for Boone County, 12.96% for Campbell County and 11.77% for Kenton County.

Boone County Clerk Justin Crigler said the day went smooth, adding that the staff and poll workers did a great job.

Dave Meyer, vice chair of the Kenton Coun- ty Democrats, described the day’s events as very low drama. Shane Noem of the Kenton County Republicans expressed similar sentiments.

Both agreed that lower turnouts for primary elections, even in constitutional races like these, were not unexpected. Data from the previous constitutional seat election in 2019 supports this.

Meyer added that people should not “draw conclusions about the general election” from primary election turnouts. Furthermore, Noem pointed out that constitutional primaries like this inevitably pale in comparison to midterm and presidential elections.

Much of the night’s attention was on the Republican contest, and Democrats generally turned out in much lower numbers throughout the region.

In Boone County, only 5,290 Democratic ballots were cast to the Republicans’ 45,406. In Campbell County, meanwhile, 6,455 Democrats turned out, whereas 29,507 Republicans cast ballots. Finally, in Kenton County, Democrats saw a turnout of 5,468 ballots cast compared to the Republicans’ turnout with 11,403 ballots cast.

At the state level, despite spending $11 million on the primary and having one of the most high-profile national political consultants working on her campaign, Kelly Craft lost her bid to win the Republican nomination and instead placed third.

The plan brought to Kentucky by Craft and Axiom Strategies worked in Virginia on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s campaign but failed to resonate with Kentuckians and led Craft to finish third behind Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles.

One main talking point throughout Craft’s campaign was the education system in Kentucky, specifically addressing “woke” ideologies and critical race theory.

Craft’s campaign, which spent more than $4 million on TV and radio ads through AxMedia, a division of Axiom Strategies — a national political consulting firm — launched an ad in April that featured “woke bureaucrats” parachuting into a school to teach critical race theory. Further, a teacher with a nose ring requests a student to use her pronouns.

“Our schools are under attack,” Craft says in the ad. “Woke bureaucrats parachuting in to hijack our children’s future, forcing woke ideology into the classroom — it’s immoral. I’m Kelly Craft, and as governor, I’ll dismantle the Department of Education and start fresh.”

But, Youngkin was able to come in on the back of President Joe Biden’s win and tap into the backlash along with the themes emerging from that victory, such as “wokeness,” according to Ryan Salzman, Northern Kentucky University associate professor of political science. That wasn’t the case for Craft.

“Kelly Craft tried to key on that, but that’s a tough place to break through in a primary with those kinds of arguments,” Salzman said, though he noted she did a good job getting her name out there.

Cameron dominates Northern Kentucky

Former Gov. Matt Bevin cruised to victory in 2015 and received a strong showing in Northern Kentucky.

In Kenton County, he received 56% of the vote, and in Campbell County, 54%.

In 2019, Beshear flipped both Campbell and Kenton counties. In Campbell, Beshear received 52% of the vote, and 49.5% in Kenton County.

But, politics in Northern Kentucky shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northern Kentucky attorney Chris Wiest noted a significant shift in state politics in 2022 when prominent NKY state House Reps. Adam Koenig, Ed Massey, and Sal Santoro lost their primary races to liberty-aligned candidates and current Reps. Steve Doan (R-Erlanger), Steve Rawlings (R-Burlington) and Marianne Proctor (R-Union).

Wiest spoke in Boone County last summer when liberty-aligned Rep. Savannah Maddox (R-Dry Ridge) announced her gubernatorial bid. Maddox dropped out of the race, and Wiest threw his support behind Cameron — someone Wiest said he’s worked with on fighting Beshear’s office over COVID-19 shutdowns and Biden lawsuits.

“I don’t think we get people that have walked the walk elsewhere in this field,” Wiest said in April.

At a campaign event in April, Cameron said that Beshear is out of step with Northern Kentuckians, and the showing he received in Northern Kentucky might indicate how well Cameron’s message resonated in the region.

On election night, Cameron won Boone County with 48% of the vote, Campbell with 44% and Kenton with 45%.

“Cameron is coming out of the primary hot,” Salzman said. “His win was strong enough to reset a lot of people’s expectations.”