Kentucky Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear captured a second term Tuesday, defeating Daniel Cameron, the state’s attorney general and Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate for his home state governorship.
Cameron entered the race having built a reputation as a conservative firebrand on cultural issues from his time as the state’s top prosecutor. In June, Cameron became the first black major party nominee for the governor in Kentucky history when he carried the Republican primary over Agricultural Commissioner Ryan Quarles and former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft. Cameron, a former McConnell aid who had the Republican Senate leader at his wedding in 2020, was described as the octogenarian lawmaker’s “protégé” throughout the race. The senator’s chief of staff even ran Cameron’s campaign. Polling shows McConnell is the least popular politician in America.
Given that Mitch McConnell is far and away the most unpopular national political figure in the entire country (-39 in net favorability according to RealClear’s average), it’s not surprising that McConnell ties have turned into a massive political liability in Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/Zxrd53vAlP
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 8, 2023
Elected attorney general in 2018, Cameron defended a grand jury’s decision not to indict Louisville police officers in the 2020 shooting of Breonna Taylor. The press conference announcing the jury’s decision drew racist condemnations from far-left pundits who called Cameron an “Uncle Tom” and said he was “skinfolk,” not “kinfolk.”
[READ: Hollywood Hate Will Make Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron A Star]
Cameron was also one of 13 attorneys general last
