Local Democrats host party's candidates in state races

May 5—The Pulaski County Democrats took their turn in the campaign season spotlight on Tuesday night, holding an event to meet their party's candidates who will be appearing on local ballots.

The local Democratic Party and Democratic Women's Club held a cook-out event at the Citizens National Bank Pavilion in downtown Somerset, allowing those present to enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers and listen to a number of Democratic candidates speak, introducing themselves and their platforms.

The event also played host to several candidates from local non-partisan races, though they did not take the microphone at any point.

Most notable were the candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Rand Paul on a statewide ballot. Four Democrats will face off in this month's Primary Elections, with one moving on to the November General Election. There were common themes among the group — criticism of Paul, universal health care, and disapproving reaction to Monday's leak about a potential U.S. Supreme Court decision with would overturn "Roe v. Wade" and give power to individual states to decide abortion availability, pledging to work for safe access to abortions for women.

Among the four Senate candidates, it was Charles Booker who definitely got the biggest reaction from the crowd. The former 43rd District Representative in the Kentucky House and previous candidate in 2020 to try for Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate seat is a native of Louisville and graduate of the University of Louisville. He wore a cap bearing the name of his platform, "Kentucky New Deal," which he compared (in a branding sense) to Donald Trump's "MAGA" hats — and noted that while he and Trump may be ideologically opposed, there were things said by the nation's 45th president that Booker sees as motivation for his own campaign.

"As crazy as this guy may be, he said some thing we cannot ignore," said Booker. "When he called out that the system is broken, a lot of folks were like, 'Yeah, it is.' He said it was a swamp. Now, he's a part of it, but it is. And then he said, 'Well, you know what, you're being left behind. Your jobs are leaving, economic opportunities are being taken away from you. You feel abandoned. You are abandoned.' A lot of people across Kentucky feel that way. ... Now, the reality is though, he never intended to solve these problems, but these problems exist. And so I said, 'You know what? I'm tired of us being screwed. I'm tired of people in Kentucky being kicked off the cliff and mocked by politicians (that don't) care whether we live or die.' So I'm going to stand up and fight for my family, and you all are my family."

Booker talked about his efforts to draft legislation to cap insulin prices, as well as organized labor, notably for teachers, and investment in infrastructure.

"Our issues are not partisan — when I talk about rationing my insulin, my diabetes doesn't care if I'm a Democrat. This is about humanity," he said. "If you have looked at the news, and I know you all have seen the attacks on women's rights in our health care, this is a moment where we have to come together. There is so much division in our politics. It will get worse if we don't put our foot down as Kentuckians and family and say, 'Enough is enough.'"

John Merrill of McKee, a native of Winchester, talked about being a Navy veteran and his distaste for using veterans as political pawns, and said his top goal as a U.S. Senator would be addressing health care issues — "I will die on Capitol Hill for health care," he said. "... I say, 'Medicare for all.' Every time you say, 'Medicare for all,' (the response is) 'Don't say that.' No, Medicare for all." He added that a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) representative helped his mother find housing when he was young and his family was financially insecure, and came to believe that "the government is here to change your life for the better."

Merrill criticized wasteful government spending, arguing that the trillion dollars spent on an aircraft could be used for things like "school lunches, day care, universal health care, universal college and vocational training" and added that the Supreme Court would "destroy our personal dominion over our own bodies," saying that the "Roe v. Wade" decision "said, 'You can't make me get a tattoo. You can't make me cut my hair. You can't make me take the mark of the beast. Or the mark of the patriot, maybe. They've gone after women's rights now, they're going to keep going after your rights. They're going to keep coming at you, and coming at you, and coming at you because they can."

Joshua Blanton, Sr., may have worn the most eye-catching apparel — a hat and t-shirt bearing the slogan "Legalize Kentucky," referring to the legalization of marijuana. He also proposed a number of ideas for changing Washington, including getting rid of the U.S. House of Representatives, term limits — including on Supreme Court justices, for whom he believes the public should vote —and a government equally split among Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

"Then we could have equal representation in all three branches of government," he said. "I want three presidents. Not just one president making half of America feel unrepresented. I want three presidents giving equal representation to everybody. ... Then they can make votes with two-thirds decisions on executive decisions instead of one person making half of America feel unrepresented."

The Louisville Army veteran also expressed support for psych exams, background checks, and weapons training for anyone buying a pistol, rifle, or shotgun, and said that it would be a "huge mistake" to overturn Roe v. Wade because women will still get abortions whether it's legal or not, so they should be provided with safe medical treatment. But of course, Blanton led with the issue of marijuana.

"Clearly, legalizing weed in the state of Kentucky is one of my main objectives. Why? Ninety-two percent of Kentucky wants weed legalized in the state of Kentucky, but Republicans don't want to do it," he said. "They shot down what would have been the weakest medical marijuana bill in the country."

Ruth Gao, a Louisville educator, talked about her experience running Chick-fil-A drive-thrus, and noted the social media meme that recognizes how well they run and suggests that those who run the Chick-fil-A drive-thru should be in charge of government. She put a particular focus on the idea of a "livable wage" and not just raising the minimum wage but going a step further than that.

"I want to fight for a solution, not patches," she said. "If we just raise it once now, where will be in 15 years again? Having the same fight all over again. ... I want to fight for something called indexing the minimum wage. That ties the minimum wage to inflation, so that it has to go up as inflation goes up."

She also talked about improving infrastructure, health care, and prescription drug pricing as issues she would like to address in the Senate.

"(We need to talk about) infrastructure, especially clean water in many areas in Kentucky," said Gao. "Did you know that in a study done a couple of years ago, Puerto Rico was the only place that ranked worse than Kentucky? ... Which means that Kentucky is the lowest-ranking state when it comes to clean water."

Conor Halbleib of Louisville will be an opponent to Harold "Hal" Rogers for the state's Fifth District Congressional seat in Washington. He said he wants to make life easier for people across the Commonwealth, that teachers should be paid what they're owed, and to secure access to clean water for everyone.

"I want people to wake up every day and have stability in their lives, to not feel the precariousness that any sort of mistake or accident could cause you to fall off a cliff," he said. "... Imagine if you woke up and you had not just a decent-paying job but a good-paying job, where you could afford to take your family on vacation for two-weeks paid vacation every year, and that that job is guaranteed for you and you will never feel like you could be fired for any reason. I want you to imagine if you and your family had health care forever, that you would never worry about falling into medical debt, that you would never worry about paying co-pays, deductibles, or premiums ever again."

Bryon Vaught is a local Pulaski County educator who will be challenging Shane Baker for the 85th District seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He criticized Kentucky lawmakers, including the Republican Baker, for approving legislation for charter schools that would involve public funding, saying that public schools will suffer as a result of money being taken away.

"Even with everything teachers dealt with over the past two years — having to relearn how to teach our content, having to reach out to students virtually and make sure they got the content that they needed — even with politicians trying to scare parents with misinformation about critical race theory or trying to vilify students in the LGBTQ community, even with all this, our students, our schools, every high school in Pulaski County scored in the the top 30 high schools in the state," he sad. "This is a phenomenal achievement that shows the dedication and hard work of every pre-K, elementary, middle school and high school teacher."