Here's what Kentucky governor candidates said was ‘crazy vs. normal’ during a debate

Abortion access, school choice, eliminating individual income tax – those are policies that could be crazy or normal depending on which side of the political aisle you are on. And they’re among the hotly debated topics Kentucky’s gubernatorial candidates took on during a debate at Northern Kentucky University on Monday night.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameronsparred during the second of five debates scheduled this month, weeks before voters head to the ballot box.

Beshear touted his record as governor on job creation, economic development, and his handling of the pandemic.

But Cameron said Beshear’s record is the reason people shouldn’t vote for him.

“Now what Andy Beshear and I do agree on is that this race isn't about Republican versus Democrat. What we differ on however is what it is about. I think it's about crazy versus normal,” he said.

The most recent poll, from Emerson College, shows Beshear 16 points ahead of Cameron, his biggest lead since August. But considering the margin of error and percentage of undecided voters, election results will likely still be tight.

Here's how the candidates answered some of the questions Monday night. We lightly edited the quotes for clarity and link to articles where you can find more information about the issues.

Kentucky has a near-total abortion ban. Would you support legislation to add exceptions in cases of rape or incest?

Cameron: “I'm the pro-life candidate and I've said that Andy Beshear is the abortion candidate. I've also said that if the legislature were to give me a bill with exceptions in it, I would certainly sign it. But Andy Beshear wants no limits on abortion. And the fact of the matter is that he didn't want to talk about this and his extreme position on abortion because he knows that it offends the majority of Kentuckians.”

Beshear: “My opponent's position gives a rapist more rights than their victim. It is wrong. We need to change this law. We need to make sure that those individuals have that option. … The right way to make that decision is the way it used to be made under Roe v. Wade, taking it out of the hands of politicians … The Kentucky Right to Life Survey had a whole section and they asked if Cameron pledged to oppose those exceptions. He said yes. He signed his name to it. When someone shows you who they are, believe them."

What is your vision for spending on public schools and does it include charter school vouchers, or pay increases for teachers?

Cameron: "I want to make sure that we have a world-class education system here in Kentucky, one in which our schools are about reading, writing and math – and they aren’t incubators for liberal and progressive ideas. … We need leadership that's going to catch our kids up, make sure that we increase the salaries of our teachers, restore discipline to the classroom, and remove any bureaucracy that might exist that disconnects our teachers from our students."

Beshear: "As Governor, I have stood with our public education system and against any effort to defund it. My opponent’s catchup plan has vouchers in it which would defund tens of millions of dollars in our public schools, take money out of public schools, and provide them to fancy private schools … My plan? An across the board 11% raise for every teacher, bus driver, or mental health counselor. … It's also time for universal pre-K for every four-year-old in Kentucky."

Kentucky schools are short on teachers and students’ test scores have dropped since the pandemic. How would you reverse course?

Beshear: “We've got to stop doing what my opponent and [former governor] Matt Bevin have consistently done, which is attack our teachers. Governor Bevin called them terrible names. This Attorney General claims they're doing terrible things in their classrooms. But I've heard it over and over across the state, people's kids aren't being exposed to things through the classroom or through libraries. They're being exposed to them through my opponent’s commercials.”

Cameron: “The really important thing is to make sure that we put new board members on the Kentucky Board of Education and make sure that we have a new commissioner at the Kentucky Department of Education. The one that just resigned has displayed open hostility to our hard-working teachers. For instance, he went in front of the General Assembly and said that if any teacher does not embrace the far-left ideology coming into our classroom [in regard to using correct pronouns] those teachers should just find another job.”

Would you support splitting up the Jefferson County Public Schools district, Kentucky's largest school system?

Cameron: "I don't think we need to make a rash judgment or decision. This is the difference between me and Andy Beshear. … What we need to do is get together with the members of our legislature, our students, our parents, and our teachers to make this judgment …  I have the relationships in Frankfort to get it done.”

Beshear: "Our school systems are created to be community-led. JCPS is led through a board that is elected from members of that community. A power grab by legislators to take back control away from the duly elected representatives in that county would be devastating. … We created school systems to be led by counties or the independent districts so that our parents, our citizens could ultimately decide how our school systems move forward.”

How can the state reduce its individual income tax without cutting social services or ruining the state’s budget?

Cameron: "It is harder to buy groceries, it is harder to purchase gas, it is harder to secure child care. The way that we can help ease that is by eliminating the income tax, but also making sure that we are attracting more citizens into the state. That will make sure that we can keep our revenues high so that we can pay for those core services that are necessary for the Commonwealth to function."

Beshear: "I'm the governor that signed a decrease in the income tax. I've lowered the property tax rate three separate times. I froze the gas tax and the motor vehicle tax when it was the toughest on our people. And we will continue to do this responsibly. But my opponent's plan, which is to eliminate it in four years, would turn us into Kansas where they had to stop every infrastructure program, slash education, slash health care."

Guns used in crimes are confiscated by law enforcement officials, sold to licensed gun dealers, and re-sold to the public. Do you support a pathway to destroy guns used in homicides in Kentucky?

Beshear: “In April, I lost one of my closest friends to a mass shooting. Sometimes it feels like six years ago, sometimes it feels like six minutes ago. The fact that the murder weapon, which killed my friend and so many others, could be auctioned off to the highest bidder has shown me how much this harms victims and their … let's not put a weapon that murdered somebody back on the street. Let's have more empathy than that.”

Cameron: “As I understand, from talking to folks within the Louisville community and the Kentucky State Police, it sounds like an agreement will be struck to make sure that specific weapon is not being utilized anymore and I certainly support that decision. But when it comes to the broader and larger picture, I'm going to stand up and support our Second Amendment rights.”

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky governor debate: Andy Beshear, Daniel Cameron views