Flanked by GOP allies, Cameron pitches voters on his vision for making Kentucky a national model

Daniel Cameron can’t outspend Andy Beshear, but he can try to out-work him.

In the contest to become Kentucky’s next governor, incumbent Democrat Beshear and his allies have spent millions more than Cameron and the GOP groups backing him when it comes to on-air advertising.

But in the home stretch of this election, Cameron has taken to the campaign trail with a fervor, often making four or five stops in a single day. He’s been spotted at picnics for seniors, walking in the local Sorghum Festival Parade or swinging by a community field day.

Cameron has been bolstered in his effort by a number of high-profile figures in the Republican Party.

All five of Kentucky’s Republican members of the House of Representatives have stumped with Cameron. So has U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the trip from Arkansas to hit up a couple of towns with Cameron in the final week.

And all along the way, GOP state lawmakers have shown up to express one desire: Toss Beshear from the Governor’s Mansion.

Together, they have touted highlights of Cameron’s vision for Kentucky: eliminate the commonwealth’s income tax, ban “biological males” from girls’ sports, supporting law enforcement and make up for pandemic-induced learning loss.

“It’s about making sure that this commonwealth can be the best and brightest version of itself,” Cameron concludes his speeches. “A commonwealth, that ultimately, we leave better for generations to come. A commonwealth that we can say is a shining city on a hill. A commonwealth that is a model and an example to the rest of the nation.

“That is what is at stake on Nov. 7.”

As Election Day looms, here’s a closer look at recent and notable Cameron stops from around the state:

Benton, Oct. 12:

In a packed Marshall County courtroom, County Attorney Jason Darnall had a story to share in order to illustrate just how appreciative he was of Cameron’s Office of the Attorney General opening a field office in the West Kentucky community of Benton.

“As you may have seen on some of his commercials, General Cameron played football at Louisville. What he doesn’t say on his commercials is that every year he played, he beat Kentucky,” Darnall said, noting he bleeds blue.

“So, if you could go back in time and say, ‘One day, Jason, you will sing the praises of a man who helped inflict so much emotional pain in the early 2000s,’ I would have said you were crazy.”

Yet, there he stood.

“What Jason often leaves out of that story is the fact that I wasn’t inflicting pain because I was sitting on the bench,” Cameron replied.

Mt. Washington: Oct. 14

While Cameron spent the day hitting four stops around Central and Eastern Kentucky, he deployed his better half, Makenze, in his stead.

An affable former teacher, Makenze Cameron’s “Moms for Cameron” event packed the already-cozy Florist & Coffee Bar on a misty Saturday.

As she has done at her past events, Cameron hits her husband’s key talking points: He’ll be tough on crime, provide a surge of resources for schools and “re-establish a culture of work.”

But she also lets attendees in on her day-to-day life as a candidate’s wife and toddler’s mother, the one in the household who does the grocery shopping and who filled up the car with gas that morning. Cameron admitted to the crowd that she “shed a few tears” when her husband shared his desire to run for governor.

“I look at my son every single day — and right now there are a lot of hard and long days — but I think, we are doing this for him, so that he can go to school and be taught reading, writing and math, not taught that people think he’s less than them because of the color of his skin,” Makenze Cameron said.

“So that he can grow up in a state where the values of faith, family and community are key.

“Daniel will tell you that I care so much about this race — more than I ever thought I would — and it’s all because of that sweet little boy and his dad.”

Bardstown: Oct. 28

The first thing Daniel Cameron did after sailing into the Nelson County Republican Organization of Women’s Fall Social on an overcast afternoon was go room-to-room in the historic mansion venue to personally greet each attendee.

On the front steps of Wickland, Home of Three Governors, Cameron stood alongside the majority of the GOP down-ballot ticket, U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, State Sen. Jimmy Higdon and State Rep. Candy Massaroni as a crowd of roughly 30 looked on.

Higdon, R-Lebanon, warned the crowd the margin come election night could be razor-thin, so getting Nelson County residents to the polls was crucial.

“I’m starting to see a lot of enthusiasm. That snowball is getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” Higdon said. “And while Daniel’s opponent is going around the state giving away your money, claiming ... that it’s his money and he’s giving it back. ... He’s doing that while Daniel is going from town to town to town. He’s spreading the word and asking for your vote.”

Cameron, on his second campaign stop of the day, led off with a familiar talking point: A declaration that this is about ‘crazy vs. normal.’

Speaking to no one in particular, one woman in the crowd agreed.

“Ain’t that right!”

La Grange: Oct. 30

As State House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, tells it, there are many reasons to vote Cameron for governor.

For one, he’s not Beshear, which stands as a “pretty dang good reason” on its own, he said.

“I mean, if anybody ever had any questions about his judgment, all you have to do is look at the fact that he married an Oldham County girl named Makenze!” Osborne said to the crowd gathered at the Coffeehouse & Cafe, prompting cheering for the hometown girl they hope become Kentucky’s next First Lady.

This day marked the first of Cameron’s “Fight for Kentucky” bus tour, which plans to hit 40 counties in the campaign’s waning days.

“You and I have an opportunity together on Nov. 7 to send a very strong message, to tell this country that not only do we care about our values, but we want to make sure that we have leadership in this state that is going to protect women’s sports from biological males...” Cameron said before he was drowned out by applause.

“And I don’t care what Andy Beshear says,” Cameron said. “We can eliminate Kentucky’s income tax!”

Bowling Green, Nov. 1

Mike Coffey, co-owner of Blue Cotton custom apparel company, was excited to host Cameron’s campaign at his business, located on Bowling Green’s Mitch McConnell Way.

“He is the only candidate in this race who sees all businesses as essential,” Coffey said, “and will fight to keep all businesses open, even in the face of challenging times.”

Cameron was joined on this leg of his bus tour by Kelley Paul, the wife of Rand Paul, Kentucky’s junior U.S. senator, and former University of Kentucky swimmer turned anti-trans crusader Riley Gaines.

“Do you want to know whose name, which governor’s name, was not one of the ones on this letter sent to the NCAA? Andy Beshear. And his veto?” Gaines said, referencing a 2022 bill that banned trans athletes from playing on teams that match their gender identity.

“Any person who’s going to deny the most simple, most basic, most common sense of truths, you can’t believe another word that comes out of their mouth.”