Puppets, pronouns, Bud Light & more: All the jokes you missed at Fancy Farm this weekend

Without fail, each year politicians take to the Fancy Farm stage to try out comedy material at the expense of their opponents. Some of it gets laughs, some of it fails.

On both sides of the aisle, candidates for statewide office blended the political with the personal in an attempt to playfully bring down the opposition.

Here’s a sampling from top to bottom of the statewide ticket, with an appearance from U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear

Beshear started off his speech firing directly at Cameron, with a stray shot toward First District Congressman James Comer, R-KY, who Democrats have criticized for spending time in Frankfort, where his family lives, before GOP-led redistricting morphed his district to include Frankfort.

“It’s great to be back in Western Kentucky, where my family is from, where Jamie Comer pretends to live and where Daniel Cameron shows up for a political rally but not for tornado survivors,” Beshear joked.

He also chided Cameron’s lieutenant governor running mate Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, who he indicated was not the Cameron campaign’s first choice for the role, calling specifically to Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles.

The governor called Mills, a prominent political figure in his home county but relatively unknown statewide, “an interesting choice.”

“If you took all the people on Daniel’s LG list above Robby Mills, and you put ‘em all in a room together, you’d have the biggest crowd of the Cameron campaign.”

Daniel Cameron, Republican candidate for governor

Cameron’s jokes focused largely on his campaign’s belief that Beshear’s values are out of step with the average Kentuckian.

Many of the comments were centered around transgender issues, including a reference to Bud Light, a beer brand that has been boycotted by conservatives after including a transgender woman in promotional material.

“We can recover for our children what Andy Beshear took from them. We can restore law and order. We can build a future that’s based on true Kentucky values, instead of the Beshear-Biden radical ideology… Governor, I know you guys are obsessed with pronouns these days. But come November, yours are going to be: ‘has’ and ‘been,’” Cameron said.

Robby Mills, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor

Mills joked that it was “nice to meet” Beshear outside of a press conference setting.

In reference to the GOP-led legislature’s frustrations with communication between the branches, Mills said that the only time he hears from the governor is through veto messages on the bills the Republicans prioritize.

At the Graves County GOP’s pre-Fancy Farm breakfast, Mills joked about “Amnesia Andy,” with the governor running away from his veto of Senate Bill 150, an omnibus bill that Republicans are messaging on.

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell

McConnell focused much of his on Cameron’s – the attorney general began his political career as an 18-year-old interning in McConnell’s office – race against Beshear. McConnell stressed he knew “a thing or two about beating Beshears,” as he easily defeated former governor Steve Beshear, Andy’s father, in a 1996 U.S. Senate race.

“Andy Beshear’s dad thought ‘woke’ was what he did from his nightmare election in 1996… (Andy) might as well be running for governor of San Francisco,” McConnell said.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Coleman

It might’ve been easy to miss a jab at Cameron and former Gov. Matt Bevin, with a potential reference slid in on Bevin’s recent divorce filings.

Coleman joked Cameron is “trying to distance himself from the former governor, and he’s not the only one.”

Beshear and Coleman’s 2019 campaign was marked with criticisms of nepotism, given that Andy’s father Steve was governor for eight years. But Coleman ended her speech turning that criticism around in reference to Cameron’s close relationship with McConnell.

“I’d rather be Steve Beshear’s son than Mitch McConnell’s puppet,” Coleman said.

Rep. Pam Stevenson, Democratic candidate for Attorney General

In an interesting move, Stevenson addressed concerns about her not being technically licensed to practice law in Kentucky – her campaign says she will be this month – in her speech.

“I know these boys are trying to make a big deal about my bar status, but I would, too, if I had to compete with my resume. Lord knows that some of these boys couldn’t even make it through boot camp,” the former Air Force colonel said.

Russell Coleman, Republican candidate for Attorney General

Coleman poked fun at Stevenson only being licensed to practice law in the state of Indiana.

Touting his law enforcement bonafides, he said the race is a choice between “someone from Kentucky law enforcement… and, well, a Hoosier lawyer.”

Republican Auditor Mike Harmon

Like last year, Harmon did a Jeff Foxworthy-inspired routine titled ‘you might be a Beshear-Biden Democrat if…”

One line referenced President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, the subject of an inquiry by First District U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-KY, who also spoke at the event.

“If the only hunter you think should have a gun is Hunter Biden, you might be a Beshear-Biden Democrat,” Harmon said.

Buddy Wheatley, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State

Wheatley made reference to incumbent Michael Adams’ office flirtation with pulling out of bipartisan voter data sharing network ERIC. He also highlighted Adams himself and his law firm continuing to work with candidates, including an election denier and a current GOP presidential candidate, while he oversees Kentucky elections.

GOP Secretary of State Michael Adams

In perhaps the most cutting series of jokes on the day, Adams let loose on Wheatley for a 2008 incident where he crashed a Covington city vehicle after drinking alcohol.

He compared Wheatley’s relatively low poll numbers to the legal blood alcohol content limit.

“In the polls, he is only getting 24% - in third place, behind undecided. For the first time, he’s relieved to see a number above 0.08%,” Adams said.