Takeaways from Fancy Farm: Beshear and Cameron face off and more transgender attacks

FANCY FARM, Ky. − Kentucky's race for governor was front and center at the 143rd Fancy Farm picnic Saturday, with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron trading shots before a typically rowdy and partisan crowd.

Beshear and Cameron have three months to go to the general election, which is expected to be very competitive and very costly, with more than $13 million already spent on TV ads in the state.

Already fierce political rivals over the past four years, Saturday was the first time the two gubernatorial candidates directed criticism of each other face-to-face, while supporters cheered them on and opponents tried to drown out and rattle them with chants and catcalls.

While the lines delivered by Beshear and Cameron, as well as their running mates and down ballot candidates, did not include many big surprises, the presence of one speaker Saturday was uncertain — that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who showed up to speak despite a health scare last week.

Here are our five big takeaways from this year's Fancy Farm.

Beshear touts record, Cameron pans it

While Beshear opened his speech with a few jokes — mostly at the expense of Cameron's running mate, state Sen. Robby Mills — the bulk of it was devoted to touting his record as governor to make the case for voters giving him four more years.

Beshear spent much of his time touting new economic development projects and infrastructure improvements for the region, saying “we can turn these three great years of economic development into 30 years of prosperity.”

“When you’re on a historic winning streak, you don’t fire the coach. You don’t sub out the quarterback. You keep that team on the field.”

However, Cameron countered that Beshear's record is actually "one of failure" that also flies in the face of "true Kentucky values” — drawing a contrast between "TV Andy" and "Frankfort Andy."

"TV Andy lies about his record on jobs, crime and teachers," Cameron said. "TV Andy wants you to believe he’s never heard of Joe Biden. But when the cameras aren’t rolling and he thinks you aren’t watching, that’s when Frankfort Andy, the real Andy Beshear, rears his head."

Cameron's attack lines followed familiar ones on Beshear's COVID-19 restrictions from 2020 — including those on schools, Easter church services and commutations for state inmates — but most commonly hit him on his vetoes of bills targeting transgender youth.

"He demands that boys play in girls’ sports, he protects transgender surgery for kids," Cameron said. "I’ve been watching Frankfort Andy up close for nearly four years, and I have just one question: Governor, are you auditioning for a job with Bud Light’s marketing team?”

Beshear vetoed a wide-ranging bill that banned gender reassignment surgeries for minors, though the governor says he opposes them, as do major LGBTQ rights groups in the state.

While there was no public record of a gender-reassignment surgery being performed on a minor in Kentucky at the time, a Free Beacon story published Monday first revealed a University of Kentucky clinic had performed a “small number” of non-genital surgeries on the chests of minors “in recent years,” which it no longer performs.

Transgender attacks the most common

The GOP nominee for governor wasn't the only Republican speaker to make repeated jokes aimed at Beshear over transgender issues, as it was the most common target of the day.

Cameron said he'd "protect our children from gender ideology in the classroom and keep boys out of girls’ sports," whereas Beshear is "obsessed with pronouns" and "can’t even tell the difference between a man and a woman."

Others also used joke lines invoking Bud Light, as the beer brand angered some conservatives this year for using a transgender TikTok personality in a social media promotion.

More: FACT CHECK: GOP ads mislead by suggesting Beshear supports sex change surgeries for kids

Mills and other Republican speakers also hit Beshear with lines claiming he supports kids having gender-reassignment surgeries and criticizing him for vetoing the transgender sports ban and agreeing to take an impromptu photo with several men dressed in drag after a 2020 rally in the Capitol.

Beshear did not directly address those lines of criticism, but he contrasted himself as someone who would not divide people against each other.

"This race is the difference between vision and division," Beshear said. "See, they’re trying to pit us against each other, calling everybody names who disagrees with them. Telling you it’s OK to yell at, even hate, your fellow Kentuckians. I’m ready to prove that’s a losing strategy in the commonwealth of Kentucky.”

After health scare, McConnell show up

On the eve of Fancy Farm, it was still unclear if McConnell would show up to speak after a health scare last week in which Republican colleagues escorted him away from a press conference after he froze for 20 seconds and was unable to talk.

Saturday morning at a local GOP breakfast, McConnell made a grand entrance during the political speeches, received a long and enthusiastic round of applause from attendees, which they repeated several more time when he spoke.

More: McConnell speaks, receives warm reception at pre-Fancy Farm event amid health concerns

"Well, this is my 28th Fancy Farm, and I want to assure you, it's not my last," McConnell said, in a not-so-veiled message to anyone in the state — or more likely Washington, D.C. — who thought his days in office may be numbered.

McConnell also braved the muggy weather to speak at the Fancy Farm picnic, where he did not have any apparent hiccups with his health and made the same biting lines that he's known for — though these lines were delivered noticeably slower and softer than usual.

As for the Democrats in the audience, they spared no mercy for McConnell, drowning him out within the picnic shelter with chants of "retire!"

GOP wants Democratic 'extinction'

Speaking at the GOP breakfast, McConnell noted that when he was first elected in 1984, Republicans were a tiny minority in that region of the state, while Democrats dominated statewide.

Nearly three decades later, McConnell said the opposite is true, as Republicans dominate the state legislature, congressional seats and all but one statewide office — the big one held by Beshear

McConnell said that beating Beshear and taking back the governor's mansion for Republicans is "the last big step to take in our state," urging the crowd to "finish the job" this November.

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams brought up the same point in his speech that morning, but put it in more blunt terms.

"The Democrats are facing extinction and they know it," Adams said. "If we sweep (statewide offices) for the first time in Kentucky history, they are done. ... We have them in our sights, and they know it."

Rocky Adkins, a former Democratic House leader and Beshear's top adviser in the governor's office, told The Courier Journal the stakes are high any time Kentucky has one of three gubernatorial elections in the country and it's expected to be competitive, but he's confident Democrats are "well-positioned to win this race."

"Do you want common-sense leadership, or do you want the leadership that brings radical ideas to the people of Kentucky?" Adkins asked. "I think I know the answer to that, and I think that's why we're going to be successful on Nov. 7."

No big surprises or gaffes

Political observers have long said no candidates can win their race at Fancy Farm, but they could lose it — by making a critical error or gaffe in their speeches, which are televised and reported throughout the state ahead of the general election.

Did such a gaffe happen on Saturday? Most likely not.

However, in a race that is expected to be as close as the one between Beshear and Cameron, every vote counts, so even a small shift in the race based on how the speeches are received could have a significant impact. We shall see.

More: Cameron, Beshear, BBQ: What to look for at the Fancy Farm showdown

This story was updated to reflect the new reporting on UK clinic performing some non-genital reassignment surgeries on minors before they were banned this summer.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 5 takeaways from the Beshear-Cameron face-off at Fancy Farm