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Kentucky elects a Governor on Tuesday. Please Vote for the Jerk
Matt Bevin is a jerk. You should vote for him.
People often forget that there are off-year elections, but this coming Tuesday sees gubernatorial elections in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and state legislative elections in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia.
The gubernatorial elections in Louisiana and Mississippi seem to be fine, but it’s always helpful to have bigger majorities (or, in New Jersey’s case, a bigger minority) in the legislature. If you know someone in a state with a legislative election on Tuesday, please call them and remind them to vote. In off-year elections, so many people forget to do this, which makes every vote count.
In particular, Kentucky’s gubernatorial election is within the margin of error (tied in this poll, five points down in this one). If we take this race, it’s entirely possible that — for the first time in history — Kentucky will have a Republican governor with a Republican legislature; right now, we dominate the Senate, they have a slight lead in the House.
Matt Bevin, the Republican candidate, is not an impressive guy and there’s an independent called Drew Curtis who is considerably more appealing in just about every regard (he’s a right leaning centrist, but he seems considerably more honest, principled, and competent than Bevin; he’s a disaster for us, primarily taking votes from our side). If your friend or relative is considering voting for Curtis, please remind them that Curtis is not an actual candidate; at 6 percent of the vote, he’s not someone who might become governor.
In presidential races, people often make the ridiculous claim that if there’s a significant vote (e.g., 1.5 percent) for a third party this time, then the third party will win the next election. It should go without saying voting for the Super-Duper-Awesome Party in this election is not a guaranteed way to get a bigger SDAP vote in the next one. In statewide elections, we know that you don’t have to have a history of third party votes to get a third party candidate; there’s been a bunch of independent governors and senators. In short, there’s no practical reason to vote for Curtis.
If your friend or relative is considering voting for either Democrat Conway or Curtis, by all means go ahead and point out how charming, witty, and insightful Curtis is and commend them to watch the debates. But if your friend or relative is a conservative who wants to pass conservative reforms, remind them that the legislature is pretty sound and that it’s likely to get better in the next couple of cycles. As with Mrs. Of England in the years before I met her, Kentucky is growing in all the right places and should get more conservative and generally appealing over time. We don’t need a competent or upstanding governor; we just need someone who will sign the bills that get given to them.
Bevin stands a good chance of being primaried in four years anyway. If they’re mad as heck at the party, remind them that Bevin ran an aggressive campaign against McConnell in the 2016 Senate primary. If they’re Christian and/or not opposed to Kim Davis, remind them that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, was warned about the Kim Davis controversy, had it pointed out to him how he could avoid it happening (although Huckabee and pals tried to make it about SSM, Davis was really just asking for a competently designed form along the lines of the form Bevin suggested in his one shining moment of insight), and deliberately went ahead and created a controversy that has filled Democratic campaign coffers at a cost of shaming Kentucky, and making gays and Christians alike feel hated and persecuted. Conway, the current candidate is Beshear’s attorney general and went along with — and benefited from — this despicable behavior. If you have any other messages for potential voters, please leave them in the comments; I’ll be speaking to a lot more voters in Lexington over the coming days, and any facts that I’m missing could help a lot.
If your friend or relative will be out of town on Tuesday, remind them that they can vote early. (You can only vote early if you are out of the county all Tuesday, but if that’s the case you can).
The chance to have a worthwhile leader for Kentucky was lost in the primary by a mere 83 votes. The chance to avoid disaster may rest on an even smaller number. Please, if you know someone, call them. If they’ve already voted or are certain to vote, ask them to call their friends and make sure they vote, too. If they’re already doing that, make sure that they call people who aren’t really their friends.
Vote for the jerk. It’s important.
Image Credit: “Businessman and political candidate Matt Bevin” by Steve Magruder.
Published in General
We moved to Barren County, KY last December, built our retirement home here. We came for the weather, scenery, friendly folks, etc. We have always been politically active, and were early supporters of Senator Don Nickles, Tom Coburn and James Lankford (he was our Representative and Senator). I’m more Libertarian than Republican but have done street-level work for many Republicans as my voting philosophy has always been to vote for the candidate likely to do the least damage to my liberty. I don’t quite understand your take on Bevin unless you credit the democrats attack ads more than I do. He seems to be pretty solid from what I can determine, having followed his campaign against McConnell (from some distance) and having heard him a few times in person, plus what I can find on the internet. His running mate seems to be first class, also. I think Kentucky will miss a good opportunity if he is defeated. It should be really close.
I would ask if they like horse racing. Breeder’s Cup is out at Keeneland today. Lexington is horse county. If they did, I would ask if the Breeder’s Cup would have the same importance if the KY Derby winner didn’t run? You need the right horses in the race to give it the right meaning. You need the right candidates as governor and in the state house to give the state government meaning and importance. Curtis is a fine horse but Bevin gives the race meaning. Will mention as much in Louisville today.
Louisiana’s primary election was completed on Oct 23. The general is on November 21.
Bevin is an opportunistic liar, unfortunately. He more resembles Donald Trump than he does Mitch McConnell.
Thanks, Instugator! Apologies for the mistake. Are there any interesting contests?
In the Commonwealth, drink early and drink often. In Kentucky, they still roll with NO ALCOHOL while polls are open. I don’t remember whether bars, restaurants, etc. close because they HAVE to or whether most close just to avoid the hassle and to save money during open polls.
I hope that your assessment of his character is more accurate than mine. I don’t believe I’ve seen a Democratic attack ad. I talked to people on his campaign and was appalled by their suggestion that it was bad luck that his plan to run on a single issue TARP platform in the Senate primary was undermined by proof that he’d supported TARP at the time, reducing them to running on a repudiated 1986 vote in terms of substance. I thought it was embarrassing when he accepted money from Progressive KY. I thought that his ignorance of the Constitution (as in, he didn’t know what Article V was) was a problem for a guy running on knowledge of the Constitution.
Following the gubernatorial run, I didn’t see anything different. Did you watch the debates? It appeared to me that he was continuing to run on an opportunistic and principle free campaign.
That said, he had a good moment in July when he pointed out that the Kim Davis issue would arise and it would be better to avoid it. And he doesn’t appear to have bad principles; if elected, I don’t see him making much of an effort to accomplish negative things. For the most part, I expect him to follow the legislature’s guidance, and the legislature’s pretty sound. I also expect him to work with other Republican governors, and we’ve got a pretty solid caucus. It would also be a major repudiation for Obama, and would be helpful in intimidating Dems up for election next year.
You. Crack me up.
I should clarify that I believe that Mrs. of England was a charming and well behaved child, and that it is not aversion that has made this the first time I’ve been to Kentucky and have not continued my journey from entering the state to leaving it without stopping. It’s a great state, and I hope I can be back more in the future.
I just mean that the adult Mrs. of England is even better and Kentucky has a bright future.
Dangit, I get the feeling that my next phone call to Madison is going to involve explaining and apologizing, and that neither of those things will help.
The trademark on “Please, just vote for the jerk” seems to be available. I can see a line of t-shirts, bumper-stickers and yard signs being big sellers about a year from now.
That’s true, though I suppose obligatorily done. There is no reasonable appeal that will get you out of this honest, but inartful simile. I suggest you immediately resort to squee-inducing bling.
Who knew that Chris was Mrs. DeAlbion’s sock puppet?
If only! Now if I get her something any time soon I’ll be accused of being a slave to Ricochet (a pre-existing complaint), and if I don’t, I’ll be reminded that even Ricochet understands that there’s some bling owed.
Except, as she pointed out on the phone, she is in fact very loving, tolerant, and forgiving, and I ought to be grateful.
James, be mindful of conventional wisdom, which holds that the only way a man can win at either thermonuclear war or marriage is to not play. Winning is overrated, conventional wisdom is an oxymaroon, and I’ve long held great admiration for Curtis LeMay.
I’ve been swamped, but I can bounce in long enough to say “Amen, Brother.”
And while I’m here, I have seen the attack ads -more than I’ve seen the ads in favor. Tax liens, bankrupt businesses, and the TARP support all coming back. He’s better than Conway, but that isn’t a great hurdle to clear. Still, I hope the people thinking of protest voting for Curtis rethink that position.
My understanding of the tax liens is that Bevin “inherited” a failing family business with outstanding tax liabilities which he paid off after turning around the business. He is blasted for having made money on Wall Street, not a problem IMHO. He wants to put the soon to be bankrupt pension systems on firmer footing so he is blasted for wanting to “cut money from education”, etc. etc.
I think his policies, if they could be implemented, would begin to turn KY around economically. There is a lot of potential here but failed democrat policies have held this state back.
I’m admittedly new here so I’d welcome any input from those who may know more.
On top of everything else, James, “Dang it” is two words.
Well, among the conservatives I know, there is a significant number who are considering voting for John Bel Edwards (D) because they think he is a pretty honorable guy compared to David Vitter (R). I am in the “vote no democrat for office ever” camp.
So the Vitter / Edwards race is interesting.
Wow. The last I looked, the polls suggested it’d be a cruise for Vitter. Now it looks like it could be a landslide against. That’s terrible. :-(
Is there anything that has changed that make people think Vitter is worse than they did before?
Not that I can tell. Edwards is respected. Folks seem to think Vitter is shifty.
Do you know why Jindal and Vitter don’t get along?
It would be good to get this translated into Ricochet-speak.