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Bevin’s Victory in Kentucky Sends Powerful Anti-Obamacare Message
Matt Bevin, Governor-elect of Kentucky.
We anticipated that Obamacare would be a huge issue in the Kentucky gubernatorial campaign, and believed the race could be won – despite only two Republicans prevailing since Truman — if it was approached in a way to broaden the base.
So in the last week Independent Women’s Voice made a targeted push to the roughly 100,000 remaining undecided voters. We engaged them, as we have done successfully in the past, with a series of quiz calls and mailings that were straight issue self-education and never explicitly advocated for either candidate – hence no need to file. We did this because we knew that once people understood the issues, and knew that Matt Bevin had signed the Repeal Pledge while Jack Conway had not, that they would make up their own minds about the message they wanted this election to send.
The result: Despite polls this week showing that Conway (D) was beating Bevin (R) by five points, and prediction markets running 80-20 for a Democrat win, Matt Bevin has won the governorship 53 percent to 44 percent, with a commanding 85,000 vote margin. Three cheers for the RGA coming back in in a big way. And three cheers for the Bevin campaign that ran a race that worked.
This was a particularly important victory not only for Kentucky, but nationally: Conway was for the first time running aggressively on the benefits of Medicaid expansion. Had he won, the issue would have been picked up and employed by the left, while chilling GOP campaigns and muddling policy positions.
Instead we have shown that ObamaCare is not a golden goose, but an albatross. WPA Research is in the field for us today surveying Kentuckians on this election, and I hope to have more insights and interesting information for you this weekend.
Many thanks to all who helped and had faith as we yet again took on a race that the consensus decreed done, over, and a waste of time and resources. Oops.
Published in Politics
Thanks for this. With the CoOps all closing and employees now starting to see what individuals and small business owners have had to cope with for the past 2 years, hopefully this trend will hasten the demise of both Obamacare and those that supported it. … … (one can hope, right?).
Heather – Thanks for your work on this!
Maybe the debates will actually get to this issue. Except that the moderators won’t let them get anywhere near.
Nice work! Thanks for sharing it with us.
As a recently arrived Kentuckian, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you for stellar election work. I see a brighter future for Kentucky. Let me know if you ever need a place to stay in Barren County, KY, our guest room is ready for you.
“Three cheers for the RGA coming back in in a big way. And three cheers for the Bevin campaign that ran a race that worked.”
And three large cheers to you, your staff, and volunteers for making this happen. Now, what are your plans for the prez election? Can I help?
Thanks for your work and summary. I supported Mr. Bevin beginning with his Senate run against McConnel. I admire his incredible persistence and commitment and suspect he will do a fine job for Kentucky.