Governor's race: Takeaways from Kentucky Sports Radio's GOP primary debate

Four of the top Republican candidates running for governor of Kentucky participated in a lengthy debate in Louisville Wednesday morning on a popular sports radio show broadcast across the state — with much of the discussion focused on one candidate who was absent.

Republican candidates Kelly Craft, Ryan Quarles, Mike Harmon and Alan Keck took part in the debate on Kentucky Sports Radio.

However, the perceived front-runner of the GOP primary who has led the only two independent polls conducted of the race this year was not present. Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he had a forum he had to attend in Eastern Kentucky an hour after the show ended.

Here are the main takeaways from the debate:

Daniel Cameron leaves his chair empty

KSR's Matt Jones and his co-hosts opened the show by discussing Cameron's absence, saying he had agreed to do the event earlier this year, but then later scheduled a forum on fentanyl in Hyden in the afternoon on the same day. Jones said learned Cameron was pulling out of the debate just three weeks ago, via a press release from his campaign.

Jones said the show left an empty chair and microphone where Cameron would have sat in the middle of the candidates, saying that many believe former Gov. Matt Bevin's performances on the show's debates in 2015 were a major factor in his upset primary and general election wins that year.

Gus Herbert, the campaign manager for Cameron, issued a statement saying the attorney general "is hosting a Fight Fentanyl forum in his official capacity this afternoon and the timing did not work out," noting that Cameron previously attended two televised debates that Craft chose to skip.

More: Gov. Andy Beshear reports raising millions, but Kelly Craft loaned her campaign more

Herbert also put in a dig at both Craft and Jones, saying "it's pretty telling that Kelly's first debate is hosted by her friend, who is a liberal Democrat."

Asked about Cameron's absence and his performance as attorney general, Craft said he is "a decent person," but questioned if he is "the person that can get the job done" — saying Kentucky's fentanyl crisis has gotten worse over his three years as attorney general.

The other candidates said Cameron has been a good attorney general, but questioned his decision to skip the KSR debate.

"I think he probably regrets that decision... It's important that we do show up," said Keck, the mayor of Somerset. "I've never ducked one (question) from the media, from a citizen, and I won't."

Candidates choose between Trump and DeSantis

The four GOP candidates were in agreement on policy for much of the debate, criticizing the restrictive COVID-19 policies of Gov. Andy Beshear on school, businesses and churches during the height of the pandemic, advocating for increased public safety and measures to put Kentuckians off welfare and back to work.

However, the most distinct split in the candidates came when Jones asked if they would support former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if the 2024 GOP presidential primary were today.

Harmon said it was a tough call but chose Trump, as did Craft — the former United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration who did not received the coveted endorsement of the former president, who instead chose Cameron before she entered the race.

"I understand from serving underneath President Trump, as the ambassador to Canada and ambassador to the U.N., what he did for this country," Craft said. "He kept hundreds of thousands of jobs in America and not being sourced out to China and Mexico. He kept our country safe and energy independent."

More: Here's who is funding the PACs putting up TV ads in Kentucky's GOP primary for governor

While Quarles and Keck both made some positive remarks about Trump, they ultimately chose to hop aboard Team DeSantis.

While saying that Trump "did a lot better job than what our current president is doing" and "deserves a second chance," Quarles added DeSantis is "ready for primetime." Quarles praised the policies of DeSantis during the pandemic and said he wants to "give him a chance."

Keck said Trump did a lot of good on the economy, but he "got beat" and now appears to be a less "viable candidate" than DeSantis in a general election.

Also praising DeSantis' early reopening of Florida schools and businesses during the pandemic, Keck said, "I think we're ready for a new generation of leadership, and hope we get it."

Cameron's ads have heavily cited Trump's endorsement of his campaign — as have the ads of a pro-Cameron PAC that say Craft whiffed on that endorsement — while a recent independent poll of Kentucky Republicans showed Trump's support nearly triple that of DeSantis.

Topics include 'wokeism,' drag shows and work

Much of the discussion of the debate was focused on criticism of what Craft called "wokeism" in public schools — perhaps the central focus of her campaign.

Craft's primary argument for replacing Beshear was that "he has not one time tackled the wokeism in our schools," saying they "need to be teaching our students skills and knowledge ― the ABCs, not critical race theory."

Keck declined to join the "woke" pile on, saying by and large schools are not.

"It's kind of become a broad brush about the left, and anything that we don't inherently agree with then becomes woke," Keck said.

While saying he doesn't "want things like transgender taught in our schools," he added that if GOP candidates "consistently demonize public education, then we're going to really struggle in a general election."

More: What is 'woke,' anyway? Takeaways from the first GOP governor's debate (minus Kelly Craft)

Each of the four candidates also expressed support for a measure to ban public drag shows where children could be present — as a bill that passed the Kentucky Senate this past legislative session proposed to do.

Quarles and Keck also put emphasis on putting Kentuckians back to work, with the mayor saying his priority legislation would be to "take care of the working poor instead of those who are not willing to work."

Agriculture Commissioner Quarles said his top legislative priority would be "law and order and public safety," especially in Louisville, which has seen a rise in murder and gun violence.

Saying he would be a governor that "stands up supports and funds our men and women who put the uniform on every single day to keep us safe," Quarles added it is "time that we take control and support those who protect us."

Harmon said his top priority would be school choice, saying he would support tax dollars going to private schools, as "whoever can do it best, we should allow them to… even with public money."

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Takeaways from Kentucky Sports Radio's governor's GOP primary debate