I have spent the past two days trying to educate all sorts of folks about what’s happening in Kentucky right now. Much of it has been in response to the sudden realization that there is actually a primary here in Kentucky for the Democratic Senate nominee— because a candidate not well-known nationally got a bunch of endorsements from Kentucky papers… and then from AOC and Bernie Sanders. Hi folks— ALL politics are local. You all are surprised, because you didn’t ask Kentuckians.
Lexington Herald-Leader endorsement
Louisville Courier-Journal endorsement
Nichols in the Nation
The race for the Kentucky Senate seat IS a Kentucky election, ya’ll. The job of this Senator is to represent the citizens of the Commonwealth in the federal government. We have some opinions on what we would like that representation to be. BUT NO ONE HAS BEEN ASKING US!
Lots of assumptions have been made about how “you people in Kentucky always vote against your best interest, so shut up and vote for the Democratic candidate we gave you”… and that’s REALLY a problem. The national Democratic party recruited a candidate (Amy McGrath) that they thought would appeal to enough Trump voters to maybe eek out a win. But this is 2020— and I don’t think any assumptions are safe anymore. Primaries are for vetting candidates, and that’s what we’ve been doing here. Turns out, there are a lot of Kentuckians fed up with the status quo and ready for change. Want proof? This one and a half minute video tells a good story:
Matt Jones (@KYSportsRadio) endorsement...
If you don’t live in Kentucky, you may not know the significance of that— but Matt Jones is a fixture here and definitely someone with a sense of the political winds. He has tended to lean center, because, well that what Dems thought they needed. But he also talks to LOTS of people, and he’s seen the events of the past few weeks. In short, he knows what’s happening on the ground in Kentucky. He has a huge following (because Kentucky sports, especially basketball, really are a THING), and there really were folks waiting to see if he was going to signal who he was voting for.
I spent some time today in a virtual meeting with Kentuckians from all over the Commonwealth—all about #JusticeForBreonna. It was sponsored by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a multi-generational coalition of people who are invested in making Kentucky better. There are thousands of us. These are the kinds of people doing the work in Kentucky… and we think we have a pretty good idea of what Kentucky might need. Policies that address poverty on BOTH rural and urban settings, because poverty looks and operates differently in different spaces. Policies that really deal with criminal justice (Booker had a platform long BEFORE the newest #BlackLivesMatter call for one) and the systemic racial inequities that amplify injustice. Policies that deal with climate change and economic issues- those are so incredibly intertwined in Kentucky. The top three industries are (source) 1) Manufacturing; 2) Agriculture; and 3) Coal… so yeah, we need to talk about climate change even though it’s complicated here.
So, no Booker isn’t an outside plant working for Mitch (oh, the Twitter threads on this!); he’s been running for a while. He has a real, grassroots campaign, and because it was grassroots, outside groups didn’t know about him. Polling organizations didn’t bother really asking about the primary, including liberal leaning operations. So here we are.
The world is moving pretty fast now—even in Kentucky. Ask us how we are dealing with that. Ask us what we want for our communities. Stop focusing on Trump’s core supporters here— none of the Trumpers are changing their mind for ANY Democratic candidate. Look at the rallies and protests happening in cities, and small towns, and even in hollers full of progressive KY voters… and help us magnify those messages.