And down the stretch they come!
We're now just two days away from the Kentucky Derby, followed 10 days later by the state's other signature races in the May 17 primary election.
In this week's newsletter, we take a look at the some of the notable primary races in the Kentucky General Assembly, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle — where those in the "liberty" wing of the party are hoping to take take down incumbent legislators.
The biggest news in the nation this week (month? year? decade?) was the leak of a draft Supreme Court majority opinion to strike down the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion — which would trigger an automatic abortion ban in Kentucky.
We'll also look at another entry into the 2023 governor's race and another poll showing the incumbent governor in pretty good shape.
Plus: Some Paw Patrol fan fiction? You betcha.
Primary season is upon us
With Republicans holding an absolutely dominant legislative supermajority, policy outcomes in Kentucky really come down to who controls the majority in those GOP caucuses — and who wins their House and Senate primary elections.
There's one faction of the party making a big play to gain power in that GOP caucus, as PACs and donors from the so-called "liberty" movement are funding and supporting Republican primary challengers to a number of incumbents.
We took a deep dive into those factions and the primary challenges they're funding, as well as the forces putting money into races to defend those Republican incumbents.
On the Democratic side, we looked at four legislative primaries in Louisville, where redistricting is forcing voters to take a look at political newcomers, and two incumbents are facing insurgent challengers.
If you want to get all the political news from The Courier Journal and a whole lot more, you'll want to check out this great deal for new subscribers!
Dark money mailers
There's another actor in these GOP legislative primaries that has a name — Commonwealth Conservatives LLC — but does not have any paper trail of who is running or funding the group.
The dark money group is spending money on mailers and ads attacking several incumbents, one of whom — Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge — has filed a complaint to spur an investigation into the potentially illegal mailers.
Maddox was attacked as insufficiently conservative (really?) for tweets mildly critical of Donald Trump six years ago before she was in office — which seems pretty tame compared to Sen. Rand Paul calling the former president an "orange-faced windbag" or Sen. Mitch McConnell blaming him for the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection.
Related to this story, my 4-year-old daughter asked to help out with it this week, and came through with this amazing rendition of the infamous Mayor Humdinger and his Kit-tastrophe Crew orchestrating a diabolical direct mail campaign to deliver dark money mailers to homes attacking the record of Mayor Goodway. The Paw Patrol and Kentucky Registry of Election Finance are conducting a joint investigation.
One more horse for governor's race
We have yet another Republican entry to Kentucky's 2023 race for governor: Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced his candidacy at a GOP fundraiser Saturday night in Lexington.
Quarles joins Auditor Mike Harmon in the race, which is expected to be joined soon by Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Others still openly considering a run (or strongly rumored to be) include Ambassador Kelly Craft, Sen. Max Wise, Sen. Ralph Alvarado, Rep. Savannah Maddox and, yes, former Gov. Matt Bevin.
Whoever makes it through the wide field of GOP primary candidates (maybe as wide as the field of Derby horses) may not have an easy opponent in the general election — at least, according to another poll showing Gov. Andy Beshear at a strong 59% approval rating.
Pre-Roe and post-Roe Kentucky
If the bombshell leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade becomes finalized later this year, Kentucky is one of the states where the effect would be immediate and drastic.
Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame inductee Debby Yetter looked at how Kentucky's trigger law would go into effect upon such a decision, how far people would have to travel to receive an abortion and what steps groups would take next.
McConnell was not interested in answering any questions about the future ramifications of such a ruling, only focusing on criticizing the leak and blaming the "radical left" for it — despite having no evidence of who leaked the draft opinion.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned and an outright ban on abortion is triggered in Kentucky, the state would go back to the pre-Roe era — one where women still sought abortions, either out of state or by illegal means.
Reporter Andy Wolfson documented past news stories from this pre-Roe era in Kentucky, when many women were maimed or died by seeking an unsafe abortion, and the chances of history repeating itself.
In case you missed it...
In the big Democratic congressional primary in Louisville, Morgan Watkins examined the major policy and strategy differences between Attica Scott and Morgan McGarvey.
Western Kentucky prosecutor Rick Boling, who drew criticism for his involvement in the Bevin clemency scandal, is in hot water again for presenting false information to a grand jury in a manslaughter case.
Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: And down the stretch they come!
