Here’s a scorecard to keep up with the 12 Republicans, 3 Democrats running for Governor

By Jack Brammer
NKyTribune reporter

Prepare to be swamped for the next few weeks with campaign ads for governor.

With little more than a month to go before the May 16 primary elections in which Republican and Democratic voters will pick their party nominees for the November general election, the race for governor of Kentucky for the next four years is picking up.

Twelve Republicans are vying to be their party nominee to bar Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear from serving another four-year term.

They range from current statewide officials like Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles and Auditor Mike Harmon to former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft. Several new faces to politics also have entered the race.

Beshear faces two challengers in the Democratic primary. Both have familiar names but have never chalked up a victory at the ballot box and are considered long shots in the race.

State Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Grant County, dropped out of the race last December, citing lack of funds. She is a favorite of “Liberty” candidates and U.S. Rep. Tom Massie, R-Lewis County.

Former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, whom Beshear defeated in 2019, was thinking about running this year but declined.

To keep up with the candidates, here’s a list of all who are running and information about them.
 

 
• Attorney General Daniel Cameron

Cameron has been Kentucky’s chief law enforcement official since his election in 2019.  He is the first Black person to hold the office in the state’s history.

Cameron, who was a protégé of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, surprised many when he announced his candidacy for governor. He had appeared to be on track to replace someday McConnell in the U.S. Senate.

The law school graduate from the University of Louisville clinched an endorsement from former President Trump early in his campaign and is referring to it often.

As attorney general, Cameron has been holding forums across the state to combat the state’s fentanyl crisis. He also has garnered headlines by defending the state’s near-total ban on abortion in court.

Cameron has been criticized in the state and nationally for his handling of the state investigation of the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020. She was killed in a police raid.

Earlier this week, Cameron’s campaign for governor released its first broadcast TV ad criticizing Gov. Beshear for his decision to ban religious gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beshear issued the ban after deadly COVID-19 cases mounted across the state. He banned all “mass gatherings’ in the state, prohibiting sporting events, concerts, parades, festivals and any other “event or convening that brings together groups of individuals,” including religious services.

Instead of gathering in churches, Beshear suggested virtual or drive-in outdoor services, which most churches use.

Cameron sued Beshear and the courts declared the church bans unconstitutional.

The latest campaign finance reports filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance show that Cameron has raised nearly $1 million for his campaign.

• Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles 

Quarles, of Scott County, was first elected to be state agriculture commissioner in 2015 and is now in his second term. He also was in the state House for four years.

Quarles graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2006 with three undergraduate majors and two graduate degrees. In 2008, he graduated with a Master’s degree in higher education from Harvard University. He received his law degree from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in higher education from Vanderbilt University in 2018.

In this year’s campaign for governor, Quarles has issued what he calls “Kentucky Commonsense Plan.” He has been releasing each week his position on major issues.

For example, on taxes, he calls for ending the death tax, guaranteeing that 100 percent of coal severance tax revenues be returned to coal-producing counties, and amending the state income tax.

Quarles has been endorsed by several state legislators and local officials. His campaign, to date, has taken in $930,002. He has kept most of it for ads in the final weeks of the campaign.

• State Auditor Mike Harmon

Harmon, of Junction City in Boyle County, has been state auditor since defeating Democrat Adam Edelen in 2015.  Before that, he served in the state House of Representatives for 13 years.

On his campaign website, Harmon says he is a Christian conservative dedicated to returning constitutional leadership to the governor’s office.

His campaign message is “Freedom Over Fear.” He says he is dedicated “to ending Gov. Andy Beshear’s reign of mandates and restrictions which have decimated Kentucky families and businesses.”
        
The latest campaign finance reports filed with the state show that Harmon has raised $68,698.

• Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft

Former President Trump appointed Craft to be U.S. ambassador to Canada and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

She and her husband, billionaire coal magnate Joe Craft, have raised much money for Republican candidates, including the campaigns of former Gov. Matt Bevin and U.S. Rep. James Comer.

Her campaign website claims Kentucky is “moving away from coal too fast, hurting Kentucky’s security, low costs.”

“Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, coal has provided Kentuckians with reliable, affordable power. But today, President Biden and his EPA regulations threaten to prematurely close coal plants serving Kentucky, jeopardizing our energy security and low-cost advantage to compete for jobs in the future. Sadly, Gov. Beshear has sided with Biden instead of with hardworking Kentuckians,” she says.

The last campaign finance report showed Craft has raised nearly $1.3 million.

So far, she has generated more TV campaign ads than any candidate.

• Alan Keck

Keck has been mayor of Somerset since he was elected to the post in 2018.

He says with his public service and private sector work, Kentucky will win with him as governor. He previously was head of Somerset Recycling.

His campaign website says he believes the path forward is a thriving economy, building a place rooted in family values, celebrating arts and culture, honoring history and heritage and protecting people.

The latest campaign finance reports filed with the state show that Keck has raised $204,839.
 
• Eric Deters

Deters, a suspended attorney in Kenton County, is a supporter of former President Trump and has a campaign slogan to “Make Kentucky Great Again.”

Deters held a large “Freedom Fest” rally last summer that attracted thousands of people and two Trump sons.

In March, Deters pleaded guilty to chasing down his nephew and making a harassing call to his sister-in-law. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail for each count. The sentence was conditionally discharged for the next two years, meaning that Deters will not be sentenced unless a further offense is committed within two years.

For his campaign, Deters has raised $99,491.

• David Cooper 

Cooper, of Independence, is a Kentucky Army National Guard service member and an ordained minister.

He says he is running for governor because “Kentucky needs genuine leadership in Frankfort.”

“Frankfort in particular has lost its way due to career politicians whose only interest is to serve themselves instead of Kentuckians,” Cooper says.

“We need the solid, core values the military instilled in me to bring to Kentucky leadership.”

Cooper has reported raising $5,660 for his campaign.

• Robbie Smith 

Smith, of Berea, is a high school math teacher in Madison County. He bills himself as “A Common Man for the Commonwealth.”

On his campaign website, he says he has “sat back, feeling helpless, as the elite have run our Commonwealth; making decision after decision that either punishes or neglects us hardworking Kentuckians. I have one purpose, put Kentuckians first!”

He says he is “a pro-life Christian” who is fighting “woke insanity.”

According to the latest state campaign finance report, Smith has raised $2,015.

• Robert Devore

Devore is a former McCreary County school board member and has run unsuccessfully for several offices in Jefferson County.

Records with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance show he has not raised any money for his campaign
         
• Johnny Ray Rice

Rice, a resident of Berry in Harrison County, is a former police officer and militia activist. He helped organize the January 2021 “Patriot Rally” outside of the Kentucky Capitol that protested Beshear’s pandemic policies and the 2020 presidential election results.

The latest campaign finance reports with the Registry of Election Finance showed no receipts for Rice’s campaign.

• Dennis Ray Ormerod

Ormerod is from Louisville and has posted no campaign website.

He has not raised any money for his campaign, state records show.

• Jacob Clark

Clark works in engineering in Leitchfield. He ran unsuccessfully for the state House in 2022 and was one of four who unsuccessfully urged the state legislature to impeach Gov. Beshear for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
He says he is the only candidate who will use executive orders to shield Kentuckians from bad laws. He also says all gun restrictions are unconstitutional.

Clark has not raised any money for his campaign, according to the latest campaign finance report filed with the state.

• Gov. Andy Beshear 

Beshear, 45, has been in office since 2019, after defeating former Gov. Bevin by just over 5,000 votes.

During his tenure, Behsear has faced many difficult challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic, destructive tornadoes in Western Kentucky, flooding in Eastern Kentucky, high inflation, and a mass shooting this week at a Louisville bank which claimed the life of his friend, Tommy Elliott.

Beshear, a son of Steve and Jane Beshear, a former governor and first lady, is a former state attorney general. He graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University and got his law degree from the University of Virginia.

For the governor’s race, Beshear has raised so far about $5.18 million, but is trying for more since he is expected to be a target of Republicans across the nation.

The Republican Governors Association this week released a video criticizing Beshear for his veto this year of Senate Bill 150, dealing with the prohibition of surgery and puberty blockers for trans youth.

Though Republicans now outnumber Democrats in the state, Beshear has high popularity in the polls, nearly 60 percent.

• Geoff Young 

Young, of Lexington, is no stranger to elections. He has entered several but has never won.

Young previously was a 2018, 2016 and 2014 Democratic candidate for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House. He lost a bid for the state House in 2012 as a Green Party candidate.

He also lost contests for governor in 2019 and 2015, yet he keeps entering political races.

Young has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky in 1988.

His career experience includes working as assistant director of the Kentucky Division of Energy and as an environmental engineer in the Energy and Environment Cabinet. Young has been affiliated with the Sierra Club, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Democratic Socialists of America, and Lexington Friends Meeting (Quakers).

He created a stir last year by defending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

His last campaign finance report showed that he has raised $2,000 for his campaign.

• Peppy Martin

This is Martin’s second bid for governor. In 2001 as the Republican nominee, she lost to Democratic Gov. Paul Patton. She has switched parties to be a Democrat.

Born Josephine Ellen Martin on May 1, 1946, Martin legally changed her name to “Peppy” after she unsuccessfully lost a seat for the state legislature in the 1970s.

In her early years, she was an intern for Republican U.S. Sen. Thruston B. Morton of Kentucky. In 1971, she worked in the office of Republican Gov. Louie B. Nunn.

She later started a public relations business, running her own company in Hart County. She now lives in Glenview in Jefferson County.

Martin reports no campaign funds.