Kentucky primary, as candidates are still working to earn votes.

[MUSIC] The U.S.

Senate race is at the top of the ballot, and there are hard fought primaries in both parties.

Candidates are also rounding up support in hard fought U.S.

House races.

A lawsuit is filed challenging a new state law that would turn Kentucky State University into a polytechnic institution.

[MUSIC] Heading into a weekend with a big weather warm up, comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant, and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky.

A look back at and some analysis of the week's news in the Commonwealth and the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are McKenna Horsley politics reporter for the Kentucky Lantern Lucas Aulbach, chief politics reporter for the Courier-Journal.

And one more time for the good times.

Austin Horn senior political reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

More about that a little later on.

Also tonight, another Republican indicates he could run for governor next year.

We have a lot to talk about.

Let's get right to the Kentucky primary, and we'll begin with the U.S.

Senate race.

On the Republican side, Andy Barr and Daniel Cameron are staying on the road and working hard for votes.

>> We are spending this last week going to every part of Kentucky to talk about the fact that I am the only candidate in this race, endorsed by President Trump, that I'm ready on day one.

There's no learning curve with me.

I know this job because I'm doing this job.

And importantly for Republicans, I'm a battle tested winner in general elections, and we can't afford to lose this seat in the United States Senate.

>> We have an opportunity to send someone to Washington that's going to stand firm for the values of the men, women, and children of our 120 counties.

Going to stand firm for our coal and natural gas industries and nuclear as well.

Going to stand firm for our law enforcement community and making sure that taxes are as low as they possibly can be, so that people can pay for groceries and gas and save a little for the long haul.

And so this race is very much about the future, and it would be an honor to serve in the United States Senate.

>> So, Austin, what is the landscape after President Trump endorsed Barr and Cameron said he isn't going anywhere?

>> Yeah, I think at this point it's pretty clear that Barr's the prohibitive favorite.

Kentucky is a pro-Trump state.

We just are.

I think we elected him 30 points in 2024.

That said, his favorability is sliding, but still among Kentucky Republicans, if you think that approval rating is going to be even a little higher than the 30 points, still, Cameron's going to run through the tape on this.

He's I'm just kind of fascinated by the coalition that he seems to be trying to weld together.

You've got the liberty types who are focused on civil, civil liberties like Thomas Massie Rand Paul.

That crowd seems to be backing Cameron.

At the same time, he wears his faith on his sleeve as a politician.

You've got the evangelical crowd.

You've also got maybe some anti-trumpers who wouldn't naturally see themselves as aligning with Daniel Cameron.

But, I mean, Trump has sort of been the primary theme of Barr's ads.

And then you've got low name ID or low information voters who just go into the ballot just kind of voting for whatever name they've heard the most.

And just one minor note here, the, the Nate Morris of it all, I think is interesting to note here.

He's the one who dropped out and endorsed Andy Barr.

He kind of came out pretty well in all this.

He he won't have a loss under his name because the votes for him don't count, even though he is on the ballot.

And it seems like he might get support for a future.

>> Even though those votes that are not counted could come off of somebody.

So that'll be an interesting thing as well.

Lucas, your thoughts?

>> Yeah.

Barr you know, he's been rolling out endorsements since he got into the race, but they've really ramped up ever since Trump jumped on.

You had a few senators last week, a few U.S.

senators and more of these state representatives.

So, you know, he put out internal polling earlier this week that had him up by about 20 points.

And you can just see, you know, he he's feeling pretty confident at this point.

>> McKenna.

>> Yeah.

So this weekend we're definitely seeing Barr and Cameron both be out on the campaign trail and crisscross Kentucky to make their final pitches to voters, particularly.

We're even seeing them in the fourth Congressional District in Northern Kentucky, where that prominent race, which we'll dive into later, will probably bring out a lot of Republican voters.

Barr this evening is in Campbell County at a rally.

And tomorrow on Saturday, Cameron will be in Union Covington and Newport.

>> You know, Austin, as Cameron has had to try to shift some way in his strategy, he's now talking more about a Kentucky first approach and much less about President Trump, as he did early in his campaign.

>> Yeah, it's kind of a logical theme for him to hit on.

It's a contrast with Barr.

He's not going super negative on him, but it draws this contrast of I'm somebody who's been in Kentucky, I'm Kentucky first versus somebody who's been mostly in Washington for, you know, 14 years or so with Andy Barr calls attention to the fact that he's not controlled or moved by special interests.

And that's kind of a hit that some people might have on Barr, who certainly gets a lot of money from special interests.

>> There definitely seems to be a lane of Republican voters, particularly in this primary season, that are fine with party members not always agreeing with the president.

It's just a question of how often that is.

And that's definitely the question that's on the ballot in that fourth congressional primary between Congressman Thomas Massie and Trump endorsed Ed Gallrein.

>> All right, so there we are on the Republicans in the Senate, on the Democratic side, where is the energy in these last hours of the campaign?

And I think a lot of people are asking that of the of the Democratic candidates right now.

>> That's the question.

Where is the energy?

I'm not certain that there's been a mass movement or mass excitement behind a candidate in the way that there was in 2020, both in the primary for Charles Booker and then in the general for Amy McGrath, who was the nominee.

Both of them are running again, but it seems like Democrats are primarily working on preference instead of genuine excitement about this crop of candidates.

>> Could be a little bit of candidate fatigue, with the two front runners, McGrath and Booker having ran before and being very well known among voters.

But Booker, you know, you've seen the polls.

He's probably your frontrunner at this point.

But you know we'll see what happens Tuesday night.

>> McKenna, you were noting that, you know, most of the time the last week of a campaign that they're just calling and sending things to reporters and wanting attention.

And we're not getting that.

>> Yeah, we're not seeing a ton of earned media from Democrats this week.

I think part of that is because Republicans are so active this past week and are really fighting each other for that airtime and to get out in front of voters in the public.

You know, I think maybe some Democrats, kind of like Lucas said, there's some fatigue there maybe that will build up toward whoever is the eventual nominee in the general election when there's a decision made for some of those voters.

But we'll have to wait and see after Tuesday.

>> It'll be interesting to see if they coalesce behind a candidate.

And if the Democrats do unify the fourth district Republican primary, that House primary is apparently the most expensive House race in the country in history.

Congressman Thomas Massie is on the air with a new commercial.

As the messages for Ed Gallrein have continued on air.

>> They're little towns like this all over the district, and it's an honor to be the one you've entrusted to fight for and represent you in Washington.

[MUSIC] If you told me as a kid that I'd been the one that got to do it, I'd have never believed you.

But now I can't even imagine not being the one who got to do it.

So thank you for the greatest honor imaginable.

[MUSIC] It's beyond humbling.

[MUSIC] You've trusted me.

>> Serving our nation as a career Navy Seal and as a fifth generation Kentucky farmer.

I don't care much for politics.

But when President Trump asked me to serve again, I said, yes, I'm Ed Gallrein.

I'm running to stand with President Trump and put America First.

Taxpayer funded sex changes for minors, open borders, higher taxes.

Not on my watch.

>> So, Lucas, President Trump endorsed Gallrein early.

He has made it clear he wants Congressman Thomas Massie defeated.

How is that shaping up?

>> Well, Massie came into the race saying that he had a pretty significant lead in internal polling, but he also came in and said he expected it to tighten up as we got closer to the primary, which is three days away now, and all our however many days close, you know, so much money is poured into this race.

Now.

We're in it.

Yeah, we're.

>> In it with the early voting.

Yeah, yeah.

>> Thank you so much.

Money is poured into this race.

So many commercials and ads that, you know, you've seen these polls get a little bit closer now and he's Gallrein.

He's probably got a more of a lead among older voters.

You've seen that in the polling, the type of voters who vote in these primaries.

But Massie has his following.

He has this base.

And, you know, that's an energized base heading into the primary.

>> You get to a point.

I mean, $25 million or so, the most expensive race in history, you know, and you're talking about districts that are in LA and New York, and more money is being spent here on this one, Austin, than ever before.

>> Yeah.

And Republicans may face a midterm backlash where they could have used $25 million.

Right.

This is a primary fight in a safe district.

And I think it really just speaks to how much Trump's endorsement commands in terms of money.

We've seen that in the Senate race.

I think there's money that's come to Barr that would not have come without the endorsement.

And then on Massie's side, it really goes to show this is a person who's got a national following, because a lot of the money for both him and Gallrein, to be fair, is coming from out of the state.

And he speaks to a genuine constituency within the Republican Party that doesn't necessarily agree with President Trump on a handful of issues.

>> And, McKenna, to that point, you talked to a guy who was in Kentucky for this race from another state, right?

>> Yes.

So the night that Massie appeared on the KET forum earlier this month, I spoke to a man named Dalton Henry, who's from Florida and traveled all the way up here to campaign for him and volunteer for Thomas Massie.

He told me that he feels like this race, even though he's from another state.

He feels like this race is a referendum on whether or not a congressman can be true to his constituents or to the party.

And Massie, when I brought up that anecdote to him later in an interview, he said he's heard of people doing similar things from Florida, Arizona, Michigan.

And, you know, if you look online, I'm seeing more videos on X of people saying they're getting on a plane, they're heading out here to Kentucky as well.

>> Interesting.

McKenna Massie also responded to some hush money allegations this week.

>> Yeah, so that's another thing that's spreading on social media.

If you take a look over on X this week, a video circulated with a woman named Cynthia West who said she's a former girlfriend of Massie's.

And in that interview, she says that Massie offered her $5,000 to not file a formal complaint against a Indiana member of Congress.

Massie responded to those allegations on X, and he said that they are false and unsubstantiated, and that he is also consulting legal counsel about further action.

>> Massie has indicated in recent days that he doesn't disagree with President Trump on most things, and suggests that maybe they can make up later.

Does that placate the very hard core Trump base who might also like Congressman Massie?

>> Yeah.

You know, he says that the line you always hear is, I vote with Trump and the Republican Party 90% of the time, and the 10% of the time that I don't, it's because they're not following conservative values.

So that's his line there.

I mean, President Trump has called for him to be kicked out of the Republican Party in the past.

And then you've seen him endorse him two years later.

But that was before this divide between them got so bitter and so public.

So.

And before Massie had this national spotlight moment.

>> Does everybody agree that this is a toss up, close race?

>> It's I would say so.

>> Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Let's talk about the sixth district race.

Ralph Alvarado the Republican has the endorsement of President Trump, one of his challengers, state Representative Ryan Dotson, who has gone after Alvarado this week on social media, criticized Alvarado for skipping debates and forums and joint appearances.

That has been an interesting closing narrative in this race.

>> Yeah, like Andy Barr Alvarado has got the Trump endorsement.

He's got significantly more resources at the same time.

Dotson somebody who is a good communicator, that's why he showed up to these forums and debates.

And he's somebody who's got an amount of grassroots support.

So that result will, I think most people are expecting Alvarado to win.

Could be more interesting than what people think.

>> And one candidate dropped out in favor of Alvarado this week.

>> Yes.

Adam Perez Arquette, who I think will still be on the ballot, made it official.

He dropped out and backed who he saw as the favorite.

>> For Democrats.

Running for the sixth district House seat appeared for a debate at KY T this week.

Each is trying to explain why they would be the best to carry the Democratic banner into the fall.

>> The answer is simple, and it's that I'm giving people something to vote for instead of just something to vote against.

I'm not spending my time talking to people about what the problems are.

They know the problems.

They're telling me.

>> I got in this race with one mission to flip it, and I think that we're the best suited campaign to do that for a variety of reasons.

First, we know the Republicans are going to come at Democrat's whoever the nominee, by claiming they're soft on national security and they're soft on crime.

As a veteran, I would love to address that.

>> I'm the only candidate in this seat that can say that they have flipped a district.

I'm the only one that has survived the nasty and divisive politics that unfortunately dominate our elections today.

And I'm the only one that's already stood on a legislative floor and fought back against Maga Republicans.

>> We are seeing across the country that progressives are outperforming.

And at the end of the day, all of my policies and everything I have done in my life has never really been focused on partizanship.

It's all about getting things done and moving us forward.

>> You could clearly see those candidates trying to carve a lane.

And Austin Dimbo has been endorsed this week by former Congressman Ben Chandler, the last Democrat to hold that sixth district seat.

He has the endorsement of former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, who's also the former transportation secretary.

Will those endorsements be helpful Tuesday?

>> Yeah.

Also, former Supreme Court Justice Mary Senate Bill, I think.

Yes.

What Ben Chandler, what Jim Gray say?

It really does matter to some voters.

And it speaks to this kind of electability lane that I think Dimbo is really trying to lean on.

I'm the one who will be most palatable to those middle of the road, potentially a little bit conservative voters in an anti-Trump wave, at least the Democrats hope an anti-Trump wave.

>> McKenna other candidates, and we heard Cherlynn Stevenson there played up her rural roots.

Could that be helpful in a district that, you know, you tend to think of it as Lexington and the surrounding areas, so sort of a metropolitan area.

But really there is a lot of rural and agricultural area in the sixth district.

>> Right.

And, you know, I think some of those more Republican areas maybe helped Barr keep Andy Barr keep the seat for as long as he has in Congress.

You know, I think that's definitely a question that Democrats will want to answer in this, if that matters to them, if they want to have someone more moderate, more rural like, or if they want to have someone that's seen as a much more national progressive of the larger movement.

>> Austin the David Kloiber may have two things going here.

He's a former Lexington councilman who acknowledged that he's building a business during this campaign that mines data and then sends out targeted campaign letters.

And you did a story about that?

>> Yeah.

He, you know, took me behind the curtain and showed me how it works.

It's an AI powered app.

They use software to get voters data, essentially Google you and know, kind of basic details where you live, your occupation, and they sort of spit that back at you in the form of a letter penned in Kluber's voice using an AI app.

And it did make some mistakes, but it was fairly accurate for most people.

The response was mixed.

He showed me some positive emails that he got sent, but then online, there's also a group of people who say, this is alarming.

I don't like to be reminded of how much information is collected on me.

That said, the online voices for the negative side could be a little louder than the positive side who their response is not to post about it.

Their response would just be to Mark kloiber in the ballot box.

>> But he may be able to get a win out of this even if he doesn't win the primary.

Right.

>> In terms of AI, AI is here.

Democrats are behind Republicans in terms of its application.

So this could be a way they apply it.

>> McKenna.

Erin Petrie is the most progressive on the Democratic side, and she really owned that.

She calls for means testing for Social security, for legalization of recreational cannabis.

She makes the case that progressive Democrats are carrying the day in some states.

>> Yes, and we're definitely seeing that.

And I think that's kind of a theme that's shaping up nationally for the Democratic Party heading into this midterm season.

And, you know, I think that with some voters in the sixth district, there's a lane for her to get support there and make that case here in this race as well.

>> There'll be some legislative races that we'll be watching closely next week in Eastern Kentucky.

The the Brandon Smith Bill Leslie primary is one.

Also, Lucas in Louisville, there's some attention on a race where Democrat Daniel Grossberg is seeking reelection, and some key Democrats had asked him to step down.

It's a crowded primary.

>> It's a crowded primary, but it's a less crowded primary than it was a few days ago.

We've had one of the candidates drop out, but you've got two notable competitors against Grossberg.

You've got Mitchell Sabeti in one corner who came within 50 votes of beating him two years ago.

He's a Bhutanese immigrant, former refugee, and in a very diverse district, with about 20% of voters born outside of the country.

You know, he's got a lane there.

And then you've got Cassie Lyles, a high school teacher with a labor background and endorsed by a lot of labor groups who has gotten more endorsements in recent days.

Charles Booker is in her corner, Lieutenant Governor Jackie Coleman.

So the party's really trying to get someone else in the seat, and she's the one who's picking up a lot of support.

>> There's a Democratic rematch in a primary in Lexington.

Jamie Palumbo is challenging incumbent Anne Dunworth, who narrowly defeated.

Palumbo in that 2024 primary.

>> Yeah, I mean, it's a big name in Lexington.

His mother was the former representative.

This is a serious challenge.

That said, Don Worth is a strong candidate who I think fits the district pretty well and raises money significantly.

>> Lucas, the Louisville mayor's race and the city race, they're nonpartisan for the first time.

>> Yeah.

Big change.

Top two finishers in the primary.

I think there's 11 or 12 people running.

The top two finishers will move forward.

It's pretty well expected.

The current mayor, Craig Greenberg, who has a ton of money behind him, will be one of them.

And then the other, viewed as front runner is Councilwoman Shamika Parrish-Wright, who's running to his left.

Those.

She was his top competition in 2022, so rematch in the general could get interesting.

You know, Greenburg would probably be the favorite.

But Shamika has a legitimate following in Louisville.

>> Attorney General Russell Coleman says there have already been a lot of reports of suspected voter fraud cases that have been reported, and to remind folks that there are hotlines to report that activity.

And the Secretary of State, Michael Adams, says this is the primary cycle with these local races where the most fraud occurs.

>> Yeah.

I mean, you know, you people think of fraud nationally and you get these 2000 mules or ballots being tampered with after the case.

But, you know, especially in a place like Kentucky and rural Kentucky, where a lot of these primary races essentially act as the general race, you know, a few votes can make a big difference.

So smaller fraud efforts, you know, that's that's what really occurs more often than not more often than, you know, a bigger effort.

>> As the battles continue in this year's hard fought races, interest in 2027 is already out there, Senate President Robert Stivers told WYMt this week that he may consider a run for governor in that open primary, Congressman James Comer told a crowd in northeastern Kentucky that he intends to run for governor and will officially announce in December.

So we keep we're hearing from these candidates.

That was up in your neck of the woods.

Yes, it was Eastern Kentucky where comer essentially says he's running.

>> Yes, yes.

So, you know, I mean, we get one break.

It seems like every other year, every fourth year.

But Kentucky election cycles definitely continue on and steamroll.

So we're definitely seeing some.

>> And then Stivers has served in the Senate nearly 30 years.

Austin.

He says that, you know, he has been critical of Governor Beshear, but it seems to have had his eye really on that executive chair down the hall for some time.

>> Yeah.

He's got a suspicious amount of cash in his account, too, I think hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And in the state, you can transfer your state legislative campaign account into an executive run.

>> And Democratic Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman is the only announced candidate out there.

She headed McKenna for this primary that the Democrats both are excited about, but dread, I think, against Governor Beshear, senior advisor Rocky Adkins.

>> Yeah, so there's definitely some advantages to being the first to announce, you know, you get more time to build up your name ID.

We're seeing her take action in this primary with endorsements in several different races to kind of build up allies among the Democratic Party.

But one thing that is kind of the negative side is that it's also more time to be the focus of attacks from the opposite party and from other potential opponents as well.

>> Some former students and supporters of KSU filed a lawsuit to try to block a portion of a new law that would designate KSU as a polytechnic institute.

They just want to try to gut that law.

>> Yes, and that law did a few more things.

Also, in addition to that mission, it gives the institute, it gives CTE more oversight of the institution, which has been going on for some time, and more power to the president.

And it has some deadlines this summer as well that are going to go into effect.

>> Former Education Commissioner Jason Glass, now parting ways with the Laguna Beach Unified School District in California.

He was on that job ten months.

>> Yes.

So he left Kentucky in 23 saying that he did not want to be part of implementing an anti transgender bill.

And so that's where he left Kentucky.

>> Many are remembering Kentucky Representative Fred Nessler.

Nessler served in the Kentucky House from 1993 to 2013.

From Western Kentucky.

He was sometimes referred to as the gentleman from Graves.

He was a Democrat.

He was described as a longtime public servant whose impact was felt statewide.

Fred Nessler was 81.

Well, this isn't easy.

Austin is leaving us here in his home state and his job of covering Kentucky politics with the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Tell us what the future holds.

>> Yeah.

So my wife got a really sweet gig in South Florida to finish out her medical residency, so we've known we were headed that way for a few months.

I ended up recently getting a job at the Miami Herald covering education.

Very excited about that.

There's no shortage of characters in Miami, so we're ready to go.

We move right after the primary, ready to sort of hit the ground running down there.

It's been a really great run at the Herald-Leader.

Thank you to journalists like McKenna and Lucas yourself, Bill, KET, all the people here.

>> Look at this.

This was your first appearance.

>> Oh, wow.

>> This is when you worked for the Frankfort.

>> I was at the State Journal.

Yeah, yeah.

No, that's that's really cool.

I remember.

>> I don't know that he's changed that much.

>> Remember being very nervous and, you know, haven't aged a day, it looks like.

Exactly.

So there's that.

But seriously, like thank you.

And to the viewers.

Thank you.

I'm sorry I called you nerds one time.

I take it all back.

>> You did.

>> Do that simply like watching.

It is a miracle that people still plug in so much to the news.

It's a great thing to do.

It's an American tradition.

Alexis de Tocqueville, I think, said that's what sets America apart from the rest of the world.

>> I know you all have enjoyed competing with Austin and also knowing him as a friend.

Yes.

[MUSIC] >> The best, as best as you'll find.

>> No question about it.

We all wish we knew as much as he does.

Thank you for joining us for comment on Kentucky.

Have a good week ahead.