Kentucky primary winners and losers
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The primary election has come and gone in Kentucky — along with alllllll of those campaign mailers and TV/streaming ads — so this week's newsletter will taken a look back to see what went down.
What went down in Northern Kentucky were three House committee chairmen who lost to some of the upstart "liberty" challengers in GOP primaries, though some other legislative challengers in the rest of the state were not as successful.
In the two big Democratic primary races in Louisville, the favorites breezed to victory with the help their dominant fundraising advantage, though one incumbent who has served in Frankfort for nearly 50 years was knocked off.
And finally: Is a key figure in Kentucky politics over the past five years recreating one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all time?
Liberty hits, liberty misses
We've been previewing the GOP primary challengers cut from the same ideological cloth as U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, and it turns out they struck gold in that same Northern Kentucky region Tuesday, knocking out Reps. Adam Koenig, Ed Massey and Sal Santoro — all chairmen of key House committees.
Elsewhere, those liberty challengers to legislative incumbents were not as successful, including the three who had unsuccessfully petitioned to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear — with the establishment of the party throwing big resources behind Sen. Donald Douglas' defense of his seat against Andrew Cooperrider.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Daniel Grossberg defeated Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, the 90-year old Louisville Democrat who is in his 24th term.
As we noted in our story on the five big takeaways from the primary election, Republicans may have lost a few incumbents, but they appear to be in very good shape to maintain or even expand their dominant supermajority in the Kentucky General Assembly this fall.
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Big spenders win in Louisville
Though campaigns that spend far more than their opponents sometimes come out on the losing end, that was not the case in Louisville's two big Democratic primaries for mayor and the congressional seat of retiring Rep. John Yarmuth.
Craig Greenberg finished first with 41% in a crowded field of mayoral candidates, while state Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey won in a rout over Rep. Attica Scott.
As noted by Joe Gerth, Louisville will now remain the second-largest city in American to never elect a Black, Hispanic or woman mayor.
The exception to that "money equals victory" storyline in Louisville was the Democratic race for Jefferson County Clerk, where Neville Blakemore raised and spent more than $600,000 — more than three times that of all other candidates in both parties, combined — but still managed to lose to former council member Tina Ward-Pugh by 11,000 votes.
Here are the rundowns of others primary races in Louisville, including the countywide positions, Metro Council and judicial elections.
Stage is set for Booker vs. Rand
Charles Booker will now be the first Black Democrat on the general election ballot for a statewide office in Kentucky history, as he easily won his party's nomination for U.S. Senate.
There he will face Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who is expected to be a strong favorite in the red-trending Kentucky with a large financial advantage.
Even more money
And speaking of money in politics, on the eve of the primary election we took a deep dive into more than a dozens PACs, UCCs, 527, 501(c)(4)s and other political groups that spent nearly $2 million on ads for and against primary candidates in Kentucky.
Such unaffiliated spending helped Greenberg and McGarvey across the finish line, while "liberty vs. establishment" battle lines were drawn in the Republicans legislative races, with PACs supporting candidates on each side.
In case you missed it...
Former federal prosecutor Russell Coleman is running for attorney general as a Republican, following Daniel Cameron's announcement of a run for governor.
Democrats allege Cameron violated state ethics rules by investigating Beshear and then running for governor.
Shortly after Paul stalled Ukraine aid, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell paid an in-person visit to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Perhaps resembling the classic Monorail episode of The Simpsons, Craig Bouchard of Braidy Industries fame/infamy has now branched out on a new project seeking more willing investors — a railroad to outer space. Joe Gerth, a well-known cynic and killjoy, is skeptical.
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: Kentucky primary winners and losers
