Republican candidates for Ky. governor address economy, rural issues in Paducah debate

With just four weeks until the Kentucky gubernatorial primary, Republican candidates are taking every chance they get to make their cases to potential voters.

That endeavor took four of the leading candidates — Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles, Auditor Mike Harmon and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck — to Paducah Tuesday for a candidate forum that had a special focus on issues relating to the economy and West Kentucky.

A fifth candidate, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada and the United Nations Kelly Craft, was also invited to attend but declined to participate.

The forum was hosted by the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce and live-streamed by WPSD Local 6 news. It fell just one day before the Wednesday debate on Kentucky Sports Radio, where Quarles, Keck, Harmon and Craft will face off. It will be Craft’s first debate of the primary season.

The primary is May 16. A dozen Republicans are vying for the chance to take on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Gov. Andy Beshear.

The hour-long discussion gave candidates a chance to make their usual case to voters, but also to tout their connections to the region and dive deep on matters of special importance to the Jackson Purchase region, like population decline, nuclear energy and regional airports.

“As someone who grew up in rural Kentucky, I know firsthand that we have a brain drain in our state,” Quarles said.

Quarles said keeping people in their rural communities means investing in amenities that make it possible to have a job and raise a family, like high-speed internet, quality health care and workforce development programs that align with local needs.

Quarles, who has served two terms as commissioner of agriculture, flexed his deep knowledge of the region and what he sees as potential areas of growth.

“This community is a region of Kentucky that has some assets the rest of the state don’t have: the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, a robust farming community,” Quarles said. “Here’s an industry that no state — no state’s — aggressively going after right now. Anybody hear of SAF before: sustainable aviation fuel?”

Quarles said the airline industry wants to move toward SAF, and West Kentucky could become a key player due to the abundance of soybeans grown in the region.

“Imagine Kentucky being the leader on sustainable aviation fuel, if we hooked up with UPS in Louisville, Amazon in Northern Kentucky, then we could go on the map with bridging industry that already exists here — agriculture — with next generation jobs in SAF,” he said.

Keck pointed to his tenure as mayor of Somerset as a blueprint for what could happen in Kentucky. The governor, he said, should be an ambassador for Kentucky.

“A promoter, somebody who understands its intrinsic and natural beauty, its natural assets and can leverage them appropriately,” Keck said. “Somebody that’s going to get in front of businesses with passion and be able to sell it. I’ve done that in Somerset, and that same decade that was just mentioned, we grew at 6.5% when the state grew at 2.8.

“They told me it couldn’t happen in Somerset. They said, ‘You won’t be able to rebuild a downtown. You won’t be able to have economic development in South Central, Southeastern, rural Kentucky.’ And we did it. We did it by leaning into our story, being proud of who we are, instead of apologizing for it.”

Cameron touted his record as attorney general, including challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States rule in federal court.

“My office right now has been fighting to keep the federal government off of your land,” Cameron said. “I will continue to do that as the next governor of Kentucky because, again, we need to have a robust agricultural community, and I want to be a part of making sure that stays the same way.”

Harmon said wherever he travels in Kentucky, he always hears from residents who feel like their neck of the woods has been forgotten and left behind.

“It’s important that we don’t forget any part of the state,” Harmon said. “And the only way that we’re going to do that is to make sure that, one, we have a business-friendly environment and, you know, unfortunately our governor has taken credit for the great work of the General Assembly; they’ve done a fantastic job in making this business friendly. But we need a governor that’s going to work with the General Assembly and work with this area and help not forget any aspect of this area.”