[ad_1]
With more than two-thirds of the police bureaus reported, Bevin led Representative State Robert Goforth (R) with a margin of 51% to 40%. Two other candidates shared nearly 9% of the vote.
The result is an embarrassment for Bevin, one of the least popular governors of America. Several Republican strategists in Kentucky told The Hill on Tuesday that they expected Bevin to get between 60 and 80 percent of the votes in the Republican primary. He did not meet those expectations.
During his first term, Bevin repeatedly showed that he was not a career politician. He fought with the teachers' unions, suggesting that several children had died because teachers were on strike to demand a better salary.
In recent weeks, he has been booed at mayoral meetings, even in conservative neighborhoods of the state, including at this year's Kentucky Derby.
In a deeply Republican state that gave 62.5% of the vote to President Trump in 2016, Bevin only took 53% of the vote in 2015 to get his job. Goforth spent more than $ 750,000 of his own money claiming that Bevin could not be re-elected.
The Association of Republican Governors launched a stimulating advertising campaign for Bevin during the elementary school, an unusual step for a group that usually saves money for beating Democrats in the general election sprint.
Trump, who remains popular in Kentucky, added Tuesday his support via Twitter.
Bevin will face his main opponent, Attorney General Andy Beshear (D), in November. Beshear, the son of former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, has sued the Bevin government in seemingly regular courts for pension reforms, education councils and, more recently, sick leave from teachers.
With 93% of the reported cases, Beshear had a 38% to 32% lead over Rocky Adkins, the minority leader of the state House of Representatives. Adam Edelen, a former state auditor who has outstripped the two opponents of his Democratic party, remains behind with 27.5% of the vote.
Kentucky is a deeply conservative state, but in which rural migration from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party has been slow. The state has no problem electing the governors of both parties – the last four governors have alternated between Democrats and Republicans.
There are still 240,000 more Democrats enrolled in the state than registered Republicans, even though many of these Democrats vote reliably in favor of a Republican; Several legislative districts in eastern Kentucky, at the heart of the coal country, are democratic at 80% or more, but have given Trump 80% or more votes.
Several Republican strategists have said that Bevin 's path to victory would be to nationalize a race at the state level, bringing in Trump and describing Beshear as a typical liberal democrat.
"It will be competitive, but Bevin has the wind in its sails.It has a good political environment, a popular president and the ability to draw a clear contrast with a much more liberal opponent," said Phil Cox, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association.
"The contrast in this election could not be clearer.The leaders of President Trump and Governor Bevin have developed the economy and created more than 50,000 jobs resulting in the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the economy. Kentucky, "said Davis Paine, Bevin's campaign manager, in an email. "Andy Beshear boasts of having voted for Hillary Clinton and will oppose the President on every occasion."
Democrats said they were counting on voters in Kentucky to opt for a change rather than another four years of political rancor.
"After missing out on the main role played by his own party in his party, Matt Bevin enters the damaged and deeply unpopular general election," said Noam Lee, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. "His blatant mismanagement at the expense of ordinary Kentuckians is approaching the date of its expiration."
Kentucky is one of three states – along with Mississippi and Louisiana – where voters will elect a governor this year.
[ad_2]
Source link