Editor’s Notebook: Who – and what – were the winners and losers from Kentucky’s primary?

Kentucky’s primary whirl is over, and with it, the careers of some politicians, at least for a little while. (We’re already hearing banter about Congressman Thomas Massie running for governor, or even president.) But elections have more than winning and losing candidates; they also reflect winning and losing ideas. Here are some of mine from Tuesday night.

Winners:

People endorsed by Trump: In the end, it wasn’t even close. Ed Gallrein, who had limited public appearances and seemed uncomfortable speaking with reporters, whomped the maverick incumbent with ease. Alvarado and Barr were always the front-runners, but could breathe easier in the last weeks of the campaign, thanks to their presidential nods. 

Now there may be fallout later on. Flush with his success, Trump endorsed the ethically-challenged Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race, much to the chagrin of many Texans. And with a 37% approval rating right now, and continuing war and gas prices, Trump’s golden touch may not last through all the mid-term races. Just the Kentucky ones.

Old fashioned campaigning: As Amy Wickliffe pointed out on KET Tuesday night, Andy Barr always campaigns like he’s 10 points behind. Despite some extremely offensive ads and the much-coveted endorsement, journalists have been getting emails since last fall touting his endorsements from this sheriff or that judge-executive from the far reaches of the state. As Austin Horn wrote in the Herald-Leader, Barr has spent a career making relationships all over Kentucky, and that kind of hard work can’t be replicated.

Charles Booker: Say what you want about conservative Kentucky, the progressive wing keeps showing up. Booker’s big win in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate over the better funded Amy McGrath shows that his Hood to the Holler movement still has legs.The problem is that no matter how ardent Louisville and Lexington’s liberal voters are, they are not yet able to muster enough votes to actually win statewide elections. See below on the problem with closed primaries.

Women who speak out: State Rep. Daniel Grossberg, D-Louisville wouldn’t step down after a series of Herald-Leader stories illuminated allegations by numerous women about harassment and other problems. He didn’t step down when his colleagues stripped him of power, or when the governor weighed in. But 30th House District voters made the decision for him, sending a bad actor away from the halls of power and validating those who made the hard decision to speak out.

And on that topic of tough women, Cherlynn Stevenson came close in second, and Erin Petrey made an impressive third place showing in the Sixth District Democratic primary. Petrey in particular was outraised, and didn’t have Stevenson’s volunteer army to knock on doors, but her steadfast progressivism clearly impressed voters. Her political career does not appear to be over.

Free and fair elections: Kentucky had another great election, with more people than ever taking advantage of our three early days of voting, and smooth sailing on election day. After Trump’s threats, attempts to take over voter rolls and the really appalling news about a new slush fund for people who tried to overturn the 2020 election, it’s a relief to see the electoral process still works just fine here.

Losers:

Political independence: We can acknowledge Trump’s absolute power over the Republican Party as demonstrated Tuesday night, and also see the harm it does to the electoral process. Massie had serious and important questions about our country’s debt, about Congressional power, especially when it comes to war, and about our traditional alliance with Israel. (It’s unfortunate that questioning Israel appears to bring anti-semites out of the woodwork and into the comments.) Trump crushed that dissent, and no doubt scared off any other independent thinkers for a while to come. Massie lost, but at least he kept his dignity and his principles, and will be able to sleep at night. Unlike a lot of other candidates.

Women who speak out: What really provoked Trump’s anger the most at Massie was his insistence on continuing to try to find justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Nothing appears to hurt the Trump brand, but surely the Republican Party doesn’t like the look of a group that protects pedophiles and their enablers.

Artificial intelligence: AI ads in the 4th District race showed just how both absurd and scary this kind of manipulation can be. I’m speaking of course of the ads showing Massie in a cosy throuple with Squad members AOC and Ilhan Omar. And in the 6th District race, an intriguing AI experiment by candidate David Kloiber, in which he sent personalized letters to thousands of voters, did not turn out to be the hail mary he was hoping for, although he may have a business startup on his hands.

Closed primaries: Independent voters are a growing bloc in Kentucky, but they are still locked out of primaries, and that’s a problem for both parties. Primary voters tend to be the most passionate and extreme of both political spectrums, less likely to represent that large middle section of middle of the road people. That’s why progressives like Charles Booker can win big in the primary, then struggle for support in the general. And surely Thomas Massie would have done better if all those never-Trumper independents had been able to vote for him? 

Campaign finance: This is an evergreen loser, but the record more than $33 million spent on Massie’s campaign shows how insane our political system has become. Money talks and money wins, not all the time, but all too often. As Gov. Andy Beshear, an expert fundraiser himself, tweeted on Thursday morning: “Thomas Massie and I don’t agree on much. But billionaires and special interest groups spent $35 million in Kentucky to unseat one conservative congressman — all because he stood up to Trump. It’s everything that’s wrong with our politics today.”