'A dangerous precedent.' In Northern Kentucky, the Republican party is at war with itself

Candidate Jessica Neal is from Campbell County. This story has been updated.

ERLANGER, Ky – The meeting at the library here one recent Monday featured a cornucopia of conspiracy theories.

Not only was the 2020 presidential election stolen, but so was the 2019 Kentucky governor's election. Facebook and Google are creations of the U.S. Department of Defense. Even the next election is already predetermined by foreign governments and other entities if no one steps in.

The hundreds in attendance were there for the "Restore Election Integrity Tour 2.0" event, which the Kentucky Secretary of State, a Republican, and the state's bipartisan Board of Elections had warned was promoting false claims.

At least eight candidates for county or state office attended, highlighting a schism within the Republican Party in Northern Kentucky. The event was even hosted by the Boone County Republican Party.

The party is so divided that the chairs of two of the local parties are running against incumbents and more Trump-friendly candidates are being recruited to primary longtime GOPers.

This is happening in the backyard of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, nominally the most powerful Republican in Washington D.C. and the man who has helped build the state's GOP over his 45 years in elected office. It is often his allies – considered by some Republicans more establishment – who are facing challenges. McConnell's office had no immediate comment.

“It’s really a shame the local party is behaving like this," said Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery, who has held office for more than two decades. "It’s doing damage to ideals they are supposed to support.”

The results of this battle matter especially to residents of Northern Kentucky, a swath of mostly Republican turf across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The winners of these primaries are almost certain to hold office for the next two or four years.

At the election integrity tour, organizer Sen. Adrienne Southworth, R-Lawrenceburg, equated Secretary of State Adams and other Republicans who assert the election wasn't stolen with Democrats in what she calls "the swamp."

“Remember, it's not just a two-party issue. It's an inner-party (issue) as well because the swamp's everywhere," Southworth said.

'Betrayed by their own party'

As they are elsewhere in the nation, the majority of Republicans in Northern Kentucky agree on topics such as abortion (against) or gun rights (for) and, of course, President Joe Biden (don't get them started).

But they're more split on issues like whether Kentucky election systems are compromised and the government's role in helping fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southworth proposed a bill she said was intended to address voter fraud concerns, which experts say isn't systemically occurring in Kentucky. It died in a Senate committee this year. (Voter fraud is vanishingly rare, data shows. Kentucky voting machines are not connected to the internet.)

Challengers have been critical of Republican votes on bills such as HB 99 in 2020 to give the University of Louisville a loan to purchase Jewish Hospital. The University of Louisville teaches medical students how to perform abortions, which drew criticism from some who oppose abortion.

Jessica Neal, a Campbell County candidate for state Senate, pointed to House Bill 28, which would have prevented employers or colleges from requiring workers or students from being required to disclose their immunization status. The bill passed the House and died in a Senate committee.

Neal is for the bill and says she supports "medical freedom," arguing the government shouldn't mandate masks or vaccines. She was disheartened to see legislators from her own party block it in the Senate.

“That is some of the frustration that people are feeling because they feel betrayed by their own party,” she said.

Are career politicians 'intrinsically dangerous'?

Boone County Republican Party Chair Chet Hand is running for county commissioner against long-time incumbent Charles Kenner.

Hand said in an email that career politicians are "intrinsically dangerous for maintaining a Conservative Republic" and that America's system of government wasn't set up for "this lifelong role."

"We would like to see all elected positions in Boone county be challenged during all primaries," Hand said.

Many candidates challenging incumbents in statehouse races echoed that sentiment. Steve Rawlings, who is running for the statehouse in Boone County against incumbent Ed Massey, cited a statistic that incumbents win elections 95% of the time. An analysis of the 2020 election by Ballotpedia.org showed that in local elections in Kentucky's two largest cities, 93% of incumbents won.

"This is a sad commentary regarding our elections that the most well-known and well-funded candidates are the ones who consistently win, although they may not have the voters’ best interest at heart," Rawlings wrote in an email to The Enquirer.

"Incumbency has increasingly become a dynamic that is not favorable to the voter and taxpayer," he added. "Now more than ever, there is a need to replace many politicians in office with newcomers who adhere to our founding documents and constitutional principles."

Hand said he's running because he believes Boone County is being overdeveloped.

"We are losing what makes us Boone County, and instead are becoming 'Cincinnati South,'" Hand wrote in an email to the Enquirer.

Hand isn't the only party leader running against an incumbent. Campbell County Republican Party Chair Anna Zinkhon is running for judge-executive against Pendery. The county party's vice chair, Dave Fischer, is running against incumbent Brian Painter for county commissioner.

Fischer told The Enquirer that he decided to run for office before taking the position as vice chair last summer but declined to comment further. Zinkhon declined to comment.

'A dangerous precedent'

The incumbents feel that having a party chair run for office creates a conflict of interest. The county party's role is meant to support Republicans. Painter said he hasn't felt supported by the party since its reorganization last summer.

One example he provided was the annual Fort Thomas Fourth of July parade. Typically, the Republican Party invites local Republican politicians to walk with its float. This year, only party leaders were invited, Painter said. Photos posted to the party's Facebook page following the event don't seem to picture Painter and the other commissioners.

Kenner, the incumbent commissioner, said he feels like his voice isn't being heard at the party's meetings under its new leadership.

"Having that normal party apparatus would be very helpful, and I think good for the citizens of Boone County to see," he said. "I don't mind having opponents. That's not it at all. But I just don't like the games. I'm not a game player."

Painter, who was first elected in 2010, addressed the question of what precedent this sets.

“They're no longer working to help any Republicans. That's a dangerous precedent. And I worry about the party being able to recover from such a misuse of an office like this.”

Ryan Salzman, a political science professor at Northern Kentucky University and Bellevue city councilman also questioned what this will mean for the local party chairs and vice chairs who are running.

“If they lose the primary challenges, does that undermine their ability to get things done in their role as officers at the county level in the party?” he asked.

“If the challengers win, then you can expect that those challengers will be emboldened and will continue to assert themselves and potentially even run and challenge more people who are already sitting,” Salzman said. “And you would almost say no seat is safe.”

Rep. Ed Massey, R-Hebron, said he feels discouraged by the involvement of the county party in recruiting challengers for incumbents. While multiple candidates have said the county party leaders approached candidates about running, Hand denied this.

Massey has held office since 2019 and serves as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

“You could agree with some of them, those folks 90% of the time. But if you disagree with them 10% of the time, or you're not one of them, as they classify it, then they are against you. And that's very unsettling.”

How common is this?

Salzman said it's rare for a party chair to run against an incumbent from the same party.

"They're usually very much in alignment,” Salzman said.

"Best practice" guidelines from the Republican Party of Kentucky advise chairs of the county parties that the party should remain neutral in Republican primaries and that the party should offer the same resources to all Republican candidates.

Chairs may endorse a candidate on their own, but endorsing under the authority of their title causes issues, according to the party’s guidelines.

“The County Chair should maintain an appearance of impartiality and neutrality during contested Primary elections as well as disputes within the County Party,” the guidelines read.

“I just find it very unsettling that we've lost civility in our politics in this day and time,” Massey said. “It's not just across the aisle, it's also within our own parties. It is amazing to me how even within the Republican Party, people sometimes cannot sit down and have a civil discussion, agree to disagree, and come up with a very positive solution.”

Primary details

Kentucky's primary election is on May 17.

Contested commissioner, judge-executive and state-level Republican primaries include:

State senate

District 20

• Phyllis Sparks.

• Calen Studler.

• Mike Templeman.

• Gex "Jay" Williams.

District 24

• Shelley "Funke" Frommeyer.

• Jessica Neal.

• Chris Robinson.

State representative

District 60

• Marianne Proctor.

• Sal Santoro.*

District 61

• Jarrod M. Lykins.

• Savannah Maddox.*

District 64

• Christopher C. Mann.

• Kimberly Poore Moser.*

District 66

• C. Ed Massey.*

• Steve Rawlings.

District 68

• Mirna Eads.

• Mike Clines.

• Paul Kloeker.

District 69

• Steven Doan.

• Adam Koenig.*

County-level offices

Boone County judge-executive

• Emily Moore.

• Gary W. Moore.*

• Timothy D. Johnson.

Boone County commissioner, district 2

• Chet Hand.

• Charles Kenner.*

Campbell County judge-executive

• Steve Pendery.*

• Anna Zinkhon.

Campbell County commissioner, district 1

• Dave Fischer.

• Brian Painter.*

Kenton County commissioner, district 2

• Anthony Schmiade.

• Jon Draud.*

*Denotes incumbent

Northern Kentucky reporter Rachel Berry can be reached at rberry@enquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter @racheldberry.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kentucky election 2022: Mitch McConnell vs. Donald Trump