Andy Beshear, Daniel Cameron bring big names on the bus in last days of governor campaign

For Daniel Cameron, it was Riley Gaines and Sarah Huckabee Sanders on a string of stops across Kentucky. For Andy Beshear, it was a high-energy speech alongside Jack Harlow between classes on the University of Louisville campus.

We're in the final days of a gubernatorial race attracting national attention, and as polling tightens, the candidates are bringing out the biggest names they can find to help them land more support, from former athletes turned anti-trans activists to hip hop superstars.

Cameron, Kentucky's attorney general and the Republican nominee for governor, has been busy in the final week before Election Day as he works to gain ground against Beshear, who's running for reelection as one of the most popular Democratic governors in the country.

You may have seen him on the road: Cameron's campaign bus, with an image of the candidate's smiling face on its side, just wrapped up a six-day statewide tour that started in La Grange and ended over the weekend in Louisville. His "Fight for Kentucky Bus Tour" included 31 stops in total from Oct. 30-Nov. 4.

Beshear has been busy, too. The governor's "Go Vote Tour," with a bus promoting the candidate and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, has also been on the road, with more than 25 stops around the state since heading out on Oct. 28.

The candidates haven't been alone on the trail. Both have been joined by other members of their party who will also be on the ballot Tuesday, with several offices up for grabs — governor, secretary of state, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, auditor and treasurer.

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Other notable names have joined them, as well.

"You draw a bigger crowd than I do," Beshear joked with Harlow, the Grammy Award-nominated rapper from Louisville, as the pair walked toward the stage Thursday for a rally at the University of Louisville. Beshear was brief, touting his economic record and status as "the ticket that strongly supports higher education" before handing the mic to Harlow, who spoke about his introduction to Beshear on a call in 2022 while shooting a movie in Los Angeles.

"He was telling me he loved what I was doing, and for the last year and a half we've been staying in touch," Harlow told the students, looking toward a crowd with Beshear banners. "... This is a hell of a stand-up guy right here, and I think you all are holding the right signs."

Leah Rome was among the hundreds on hand cheering during the brief speech, but the Frankfort native and University of Louisville junior had her mind made up before Harlow's endorsement. She planned to vote for Beshear because of his support for public education, she said — "I'm from a small school, and I loved my teachers."

Andy McDowell, a freshman, said he supports Beshear because of his track record in his four years in office. The Elizabethtown native said he was impressed by the governor's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state's economic recovery, along with Beshear's demeanor in the aftermath of tragedies like the 2021 tornadoes and 2022 flooding in Eastern Kentucky.

"He was the governor during the hardest time, and you can see how he kept us afloat and kept us improving," McDowell said. "When a governor had the hardest time to be a governor and he succeeded so well, why would you vote for someone different?"

Cameron's guests may not have had as many hit records. But Beshear's Republican challenger brought out a full roster of figures who are popular in GOP circles.

There were stops Wednesday with Gaines, a former award-winning swimmer at the University of Kentucky who appears regularly on Republican TV programs and in speeches to criticize the inclusion of transgender women in women's sports (Gaines famously tied for fifth place with trans swimmer Lia Thomas during a race in the 2022 NCAA championship).

With about 100 people in the crowd that morning in Shepherdsville, Gaines described her experience in graphic detail before endorsing Cameron as someone who represents "Kentucky values" and understands "the difference between a man and a woman." She and Cameron would give similar speeches to larger crowds later Wednesday in Campbellsville, Glasgow and Bowling Green.

Gaines wasn't the only one stumping for Cameron. The candidate was also joined Wednesday by Huckabee Sanders, who came into the spotlight as former President Donald Trump's press secretary before being elected as Arkansas governor last year. Kelley Paul, the wife of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, made an appearance, as well — her husband joined Cameron on the campaign trail in October.

Jon Park, deputy judge executive in Shelby County, was among the GOP supporters early Wednesday at the Paroquet Springs Conference Center in Shepherdsville. He's backing Cameron because he "represents the values of me, my family and quite frankly, most everybody in Kentucky," and was critical of Beshear's time in office dating back to the onset of the pandemic.

"Some of the things that he’s done — the lockdowns, the detrimental problems we’ve had with students — my children, my grandchildren, it’s set them back for a year or so," Park said. "I just have different beliefs and stances than what our governor has."

Bob DeVore ran against Cameron in the primary, though he landed under 1,000 votes while Cameron racked up more than 144,000. DeVore was in the crowd Wednesday in Shepherdsville and said he's put all of his support behind the nominee because of his education plan and hard-line stance on abortion rights.

"We need a guy who wants to fight for all of us, and (Cameron) wants to do what’s best for all of us no matter what," DeVore said.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Beshear, Cameron bring big names on bus tour in final days of campaign