Adams ends governor run speculation at Kentucky’s annual Fancy Farm Picnic

FANCY FARM — After fueling speculation about a run for governor, Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said he wouldn’t step into the ring next year and instead was backing U.S. Rep. James Comer. 

Ahead of the annual Fancy Farm Picnic, Adams told the Lexington Herald-Leader he was thinking about launching a campaign for governor at the picnic. However, as the last speaker Saturday, Adams said “the best thing I can do for my team is to call on all Republicans to join me in supporting James Comer to be our next governor.” 

“The Democrats are going to pull out all the stops to claw onto the one office they can still win,” Adams said. “We absolutely have to nominate our strongest ticket. The first thing we must do to strengthen our chances is to avoid some messy primary where we all attack each other.” 

While a U.S. Senate seat is up for election this November, Kentucky’s 2027 race was the main attraction at the Fancy Farm Picnic this weekend. The picnic, in the tiny West Kentucky town of Fancy Farm, is a barbecue fundraiser for the St. Jerome Catholic Church in Graves County but is better known as a political roast in front of a crowd of passionate Republicans and Democrats. 

Two Democrats have announced their bids to succeed two-term Gov. Andy Beshear in office and addressed the fervent crowd on Saturday — Lieutenant Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and former Beshear senior adviser Rocky Adkins. 

Coleman pushed back at some criticism she received when she asked government employees during the COVID pandemic to review unemployment claims for people she knew, including her hairdresser. 

“I do want to apologize for helping her during COVID because it’s actually Allison Ball’s hairdresser that needed all the help she could get,” Coleman said, referring to the Republican auditor who was also a speaker. 

Both Coleman and Adkins were critical of Comer, who has yet to announce a bid for the 2027 race. He’s currently seeking reelection in the 1st Congressional District.

Adkins said that while Comer voted against an infrastructure bill passed during the Biden administration, he has had press conferences celebrating local projects the money funded. 

“He forgot to put in that press conference that, yes, he voted against the funding to pay for the bill,” Adkins said. 

Comer bit back as well. He said he was happy for Coleman that since Adkins is no longer the “top bureaucrat” in the Beshear administration, she can start “taking credit for all the great things these Republican legislators have done.” 

As for Adkins, Comer said: “Since after 49 years you are no longer on the government team, I’m worried you’ll starve to death.” Since “none of the current special interests” will pay for him, Comer then started a collection plate for Adkins. 

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Comer said he discussed running for governor with President Donald Trump but he would make a decision soon. He added that he was hopeful at “the prospect of having a pretty united Republican ticket” as Democrats have generally fared well in Kentucky’s governor races in the last few decades. 

“I was very surprised and very happy,” Comer said on Adams’ decision, saying they had been in communication over the last few weeks. 

Adams told the Lantern he had also spoken with Comer the week of the picnic. 

“We’ve talked quite a bit, and I have a great comfort level with him,” Adams said. “I do sincerely think he’s the best candidate we’ll have. I think he is perfectly prepared for this job. He’s done so many other things that make him prepared for this position”

‘Where’s Mitch?’ ‘Where’s Beshear?’

Even though Beshear and Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell were not present at the picnic, their names came up repeatedly as the butt of jokes. Early on in the afternoon’s program, Democrats on one side of the pavilion began chanting, “Where’s Mitch?” In response, the Republicans said, “Where’s Andy?” 

Beshear said the picnic conflicted with his son’s final travel baseball tournament of his high school career. McConnell has been embroiled in the national spotlight as he was hospitalized in June and has not since been voting in the Senate. He said in a statement he would not attend the picnic this year as he was undergoing “intense physical therapy.” 

Charles Booker, the former state representative who is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate this year, said that he wanted everyone to get “the same health care Mitch McConnell is getting right now.” 

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, the Republican nominee, said despite his absence this weekend, Beshear is quick to find podiums and put on his emergency management jacket when there is an emergency. 

“You know he loves that jacket so much, he has pajamas just like it,” Barr said. 

Even a Democrat poked some fun at Beshear’s absence. Coleman said she had attempted to convince Beshear to go to the picnic this year. 

“I even told him Fancy Farm was in New Hampshire,” she said. That’s a state with an early Democratic presidential primary in 2028. 

Dave Baker, a WKYT anchor who was the emcee of the picnic, said that Beshear had probably figured it would be “a safe bet” to avoid standing on this stage between Coleman and his former senior adviser, Rocky Adkins, who is also running for governor. At that, Coleman and Adkins shared a laugh on the stage.

Before the picnic

Hours before the stump speeches began at the picnic, Comer and Barr were among speakers at the annual Graves County GOP Breakfast in Mayfield. There, they framed the November elections as Republican values versus “socialism.” 

Comer, who has gained national attention as the chairman of the fiery House Oversight Committee, said Democrats have gained “energy now that they haven’t had in a long time” and said it’s the “young socialist movement that’s taken over the National Democrat Party.” He pointed to elected Democratic Socialists of America candidates in Kentucky on the Louisville Metro Council and in the General Assembly.

Barr called his opponent, Booker, “the Mamdani of Kentucky,” likening him to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is a DSA member and defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by about nine points last fall. 

“If we lose this seat in the Senate in Kentucky, we will lose the Senate, and if we lose the Senate, we will lose our country. That is literally what’s on the line,” Barr said. “So, join me in fighting the socialist crazy.” 

The night before, Democrats gathered at the Marshall County Democrats’ Mike Miller Memorial Bean Dinner, where Booker spoke, as well as Adkins and Coleman. Throughout the evening, speakers’ remarks largely focused on opposing Republicans at the state and federal levels. 

“When we win this year, we will be shining a light that the country needs to see because democracy is being torn apart in our faces,” Booker said. “The Constitution is being trampled on at this very moment, and the idea that our children can have a better future than we have experienced —all of that is in question right now.” 

Adkins said he thinks Kentuckians “are tired of the political divide” and care about whether or not they have jobs, good roads, hospitals and public schools. 

“We’re about helping people. We’re about making sure organized labor has the work that they need to be able to put food on the table and a roof over their head,” Adkins said. 

Coleman, who touted recent endorsements from labor unions, said Kentuckians “are tired of the same old, same old.” 

“They want a governor who will continue to fight for them and against the chaos and corruption that we have coming out of Washington, D.C.,” she said. “They want people who will talk about people and not politicians.”