Bids for governor, bids for ham: Five takeaways from the 2023 KFB ham breakfast

The Kentucky Farm Bureau hosted its annual country ham breakfast and auction Thursday at the state fairgrounds, with hundreds listening to elected officials give speeches in the room — which was also filled with buzz about the governor's election, just 75 days away.

Gov. Andy Beshear gave his annual address to the breakfast attendees, as well as U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, while Kentucky Agricultural Commissioner Ryan Quarles gave his farewell speech to the audience of agricultural and political big shots, as his second term ends this year.

And yes, there was also the grand prize country ham of the Kentucky State Fair that was auctioned off for a record $10 million — to a very familiar name in politics, even though she didn't show up herself to bid on the special selection of swine.

Here are our takeaways from this year's breakfast:

Governor's race was the talk of the crowd

Unlike last year, the speculation among the political class at the breakfast was not about who might jump into the 2023 governor's race, but who would come out on top in the general election between Democratic incumbent Beshear and Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, which is expected to be a close one.

Beshear's 11-minute speech to the crowd did not directly address his reelection race but did closely resemble his familiar campaign stump speech, taking credit for Kentucky's economic progress over the past few years and making the case for the state to not steer off course.

"Folks, I have never seen more potential for this state," Beshear said. "I believe we are in a can't miss opportunity — one that we cannot fumble, one where we can leave that great legacy to every generation that comes after us."

The speeches of Republicans McConnell and Quarles (who finished second behind Cameron in the GOP primary) made no mention of Beshear or the governor's race, and while Paul did not mention his name specifically, he made several obvious criticisms of Beshear's pandemic-era restrictions on businesses, churches and schools.

Beshear received polite applause from the audience that tends to lean conservative — noticeably softer than the enthusiastic cheers that Cameron received when he was introduced by the event's emcee, though he did not have the opportunity to address the crowd.

After the event, Cameron noted that Beshear skipped the Kentucky Farm Bureau's gubernatorial candidate forum last month, which he attended by himself.

Several polls over the past few months have shown Beshear with a small lead over Cameron, but the attorney general told The Courier Journal he was confident that "you're gonna have a new governor on Nov. 7, and it's going to be Daniel Cameron."

Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, told The Courier Journal he believes Beshear may have a slight edge in the race right now, but expected it to be neck-and-neck by Election Day. Cameron "has got the governor on defense and I think the governor is worried — as he should be," Thayer said.

"I think it's going to be very close," he said. "I think every other Republican will win in a landslide, but Daniel's just got to make sure that his rural turnout is strong and try to convince some of those suburban voters — who for some odd reason think Beshear is OK — to come over and vote Republican."

Later asked what accounts for Beshear's popularity, he guessed it was "those four o'clock beer with Andy sessions" during the pandemic — when the governor gave daily press conferences with COVID-19 updates — that "had a long-term positive effect."

"They made me sick to my stomach," Thayer said. "But apparently there's a certain segment of the voters who thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread."

House Minority Leader Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, dismissed Republicans' optimism that Beshear will fare worse this year than in 2019 — when he faced the uniquely unpopular former Gov. Matt Bevin — saying the governor now has "a record to run on, and that's what he's doing."

"I think the people will listen and they will see all of the advantages that we now have in terms of economic development and what it will be for the future of the Commonwealth of Kentucky," Graham said.

McConnell told The Courier Journal after his speech he thought the governor's race will be "a close, hard-fought contest," but "Daniel has a great chance of winning."

"The Democrats are all bought into it as well. It's the most significant governor's race in the country this year."

Beshear touted familiar economic record

The governor's address was heavy on touting recent economic success and record numbers for new business development investments, saying Kentucky has seen its best three years ever for those figures "back to back to back."

Citing $26 billion of newly announced investments with 47,000 new jobs since he's become governor, Beshear said this could be known as the generation of Kentucky "that changed everything, that turned our brain drain into a brain gain."

After the event, Cameron said Beshear was glossing over weaker aspects of the economy.

"Since the governor has taken office, there are 27,000 fewer Kentuckians (working), folks are having to work two and three jobs in Andy Beshear's economy, you got a governor where the workforce participation rate is at 47th in the nation," Cameron said.

The Republican added that "as these plants and factories are coming online, we've got to figure out who's going to work in them. This governor is taking his eye off the ball on that."

Bipartisan praise for infrastructure bill, Brent Spence progress

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg kicked off the breakfast with some bipartisan spirit by praising several of the Republicans on stage, touting McConnell's effort to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill through Congress — as he was the only GOP member of Kentucky's delegation to vote for the bill.

In his speech, McConnell also said he was "proud" of his role in the passage of the same bipartisan bill, noting it directed $6 billion to finally kick off the Brent Spence Bridge project in Northern Kentucky "without tolls."

Beshear's speech also touted the toll-free Brent Spence Bridge project being cleared for takeoff, just as he had done so at a joint event there earlier this year with McConnell and President Joe Biden.

While the rest of Kentucky's Republican GOP delegation voted against and heavily criticized this infrastructure bill — including Paul — Cameron later told reporters he supported McConnell's vote and effort to pass it through.

"I'm grateful for what Senator McConnell did as it relates to the infrastructure package," Cameron said when asked about McConnell's advocacy of the bill. "I'm grateful for the bipartisan support on that. It's helping fund projects."

Cameron added that "Beshear tries to take credit for those things, but that was because of the work of Senator McConnell and others in the United States Senate that that package got passed, and we're seeing some of the benefits of that."

A Ryan Quarles farewell

Quarles delivered his eighth and final speech as Agriculture commissioner to the ham breakfast attendees, praising the work his office was able to accomplish for farmers across the state.

"We did it the Kentucky way — we did it with class, we did it with integrity," Quarles said. "And most importantly, we accomplished all of this by working together and not dividing Kentucky."

Just as he did in his speech at Fancy Farm this month, Quarles hinted that he's not done with public service of some sort in Kentucky — amid speculation he's in the running for a leadership position at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

"My public service for the Commonwealth is just getting started," Quarles said, to cheers.

Kelly Craft wins ham (in absentia)

For the third consecutive year, Kelly Craft and her husband Joe combined with another auction bidder to buy the grand prize country ham of the Kentucky State Fair for charity — which this time sold for a record $10 million.

However, Craft — who placed a distant third in her bid to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination this May, despite she and her husband spending more than $10 million of their own personal fortune on the race — was not in attendance, bidding in absentia.

Craft made a splash at the 2022 breakfast ahead of her expected entry to the governor's race, as did Bevin, who declined to dismiss growing speculation that he would make a comeback the following year.

Craft has been absent from Republican political events in Kentucky since her May loss in the GOP primary, during which she openly bristled at attacks she received from Cameron and his allied PACs.

She and her husband had not contributed in the first half of this year to the Republican Governors Association — the group that is funding most of the pro-Cameron ads in the general election, which the Crafts gave $250,000 to in 2019 to support Bevin.

More: A new record: Ham at the Kentucky Country Ham Breakfast auction sells for $10 million

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Bids for governor, bids for ham: Five takeaways from the ham breakfast