There are 12 candidates vying for the Republican Party’s nomination for governor of Kentucky. Three of them — Jacob Clark, David Cooper, and Bob DeVore — took the stage Tuesday night in Covington to explain why voters should choose them in the May 16 primary.
Tuesday was night one of a two-night debate held at the Lincoln Grant Scholar House, hosted by LINK nky, WCPO, and the Kenton County Republican Party.
On Wednesday, the candidates with the highest polling numbers will face off for 75 minutes. Wednesday’s candidates include Eric Deters, Mike Harmon, Alan Keck and Ryan Quarles.
All 12 candidates vying to be the Republican nominee for the state’s top position were invited to participate in the debate.
Whoever wins the May 16 primary will likely face off against Gov. Andy Beshear, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in November.
LINK nky Politics and Government Reporter Mark Payne and the Kenton County Republican Party Vice Chair Sherry Goodridge asked candidates questions on Tuesday night that covered a range of subjects likely to impact whoever next occupies the governor’s mansion.
Here are their answers:
Jacob Clark
Clark previously lost a GOP primary to state Rep. Samara Heaven (R-Leitchfield) in 2022.
Key issues:
- Medical cannabis: supports
- Sports betting: unclear
- Abortion-rights: against
- Cutting income tax: supports
Question: Northern Kentucky often feels disconnected from Frankfort for a variety of reasons. How are you earning the votes of Northern Kentuckians?
Answer: “I visited Boone County several times, especially the tea party people. They’re kind of my folks, the Ron Paul types. I’m not going to get caught giving special attention to one area of Kentucky or another, and maybe I lose some votes, maybe I gain some votes for that. But, by supporting your communities and your local leaders, that puts it in your hands and the voter’s hands that elect those people.”
Question: In 2019, Gov. Bevin lost Kenton and Campbell Counties, and his total decline from 2015 to 2019 was greater in Boone County than in the other two counties. What is your plan to appeal to suburban Republicans that were turned off by his rhetoric?
Answer: “I think a lot of what hurt him was there was a bridge a toll bridge was one thing. You know, the rhetoric, there was a lot against the teachers. Things like that, my plan to not go down that path as he did really just falls in line with the entire platform. Policies that support liberty and prosperity and local government. Cutting red tape for regulations. Certificate of need is kind of a big thing on my platform, and it’s a totally different world now, after the pandemic than it was in 2019 but definitely listening to the people more and not trying to be a bully.”
Question: President Trump’s election paved the way for a record-setting conservative court system and overdue tax reform. His time in office also concluded with controversy around his election, two impeachments, and ongoing legal challenges. What lessons from Trump’s time in office do you take into the Kentucky executive branch?
Answer: “I’ll be 41 soon andTrump has been the best president in my memory. Now, having said that, if I had been governor when he was president, and he tried to ban the bump stocks (gun stocks with a mechanism for bump firing,) I would have laughed that off and passed an executive order to block that law. And that’s just one example that’s easy for a lot of people to understand how executive orders are meant to be used. There are several things that should be blocked. But you know, when Trump campaigned in 2016, he said all the things that people wanted to hear about the Constitution, about being fed up, and I’m campaigning on that same kind of energy, you know, we’re ready to kick the door down and get back to the founding basic elements of our country and the constitution. So, I definitely want to you know, tail on to what he started.”
David Cooper
Independence resident David Cooper is an Army National Guard service member (over 22 years) and an ordained minister.
Key issues:
- Medical cannabis: supports
- Sports betting: supports
- Abortion-rights: against — with exceptions for rape, incest, or dangerous pregnancy.
- Cutting income tax: supports
Question: Northern Kentucky often feels disconnected from Frankfort for a variety of reasons. How are you earning the votes of Northern Kentuckians?
Answer: “So it’s funny that you got Jake, and Bob, and myself here, besides Ryan Quarles, we’re the only blue-collar candidates. And then Bob’s a veteran, and I am an Army National Guard service member. I’m going to relate to the majority of Kentuckians, and I agree with Bob with connections, you know, we need to continue having these sit-downs long after the campaign. Instead of just before the campaign that way, we can stay transparent, and I always give them a phone number. I want to be the candidate that can be talked to the most So that’s how I’m going to do it. I’m going to be the most accessible candidate, and just more relatable.”
Question: In 2019, Gov. Bevin lost Kenton and Campbell Counties, and his total decline from 2015 to 2019 was greater in Boone County than in the other two counties. What is your plan to appeal to suburban Republicans that were turned off by his rhetoric?
Answer: “Bevin had me fooled. I actually campaigned for him, and I was really upset at a few things that he did. One of them was the blame of the teachers for kids being hurt because of these teachers’ sick-outs. You know, obviously, we want to prevent sick-outs. So, we need to work with the teachers. The hiring of friends who had zero qualifications for some government jobs. He created a $250,000-a-year job for Vivek Sarin to earn $240,000 a year job for Daniel DeMoss. Then his pardon party at the end of his term, he pardoned foreign 428 people, some family members of huge donors. I’m going, to be honest, what needs to happen up here in Northern Kentucky we need a candidate who is most like Northern Kentuckians. I am a blue-collar guy. I’m in the military. I have graduated from a community college. Blue collar job all my life, I’m the most like candidate or Northern Kentuckians.”
Question: President Trump’s election paved the way for a record-setting conservative court system and overdue tax reform. His time in office also concluded with controversy around his election, two impeachments, and ongoing legal challenges. What lessons from Trump’s time in office do you take into the Kentucky executive branch?
Answer: “So President Trump was my commander in chief and he treated the military with respect. He did a lot of good things for our country. He focused our national security on greater power competition like Russia and Chine. One of the most important policy shifts of our generation. He stopped focusing on the middle east and started focusing on Russia and China and Biden comes in and now these two countries are friends and China’s bringing the Middle East together, and they’re leaving the United States out. You know, if someone would have taken the phone away from President Trump, I truly believe, he would have been a more popular president and he would still be our president. With ballot stuffing from the Democrats, I do believe I’ve seen several documentaries. As a leader of a governor aspect, as the presidential aspect we’re supposed to in public like Devore said, treat them with respect, support them, but behind closed doors tell them ‘hey we need to talk.’”
Bob DeVore
Devore has run for office multiple times in Jefferson County. He previously ran for the 3rd Congressional in the U.S. House of Representatives and Louisville mayor.
Key issues:
- Medical cannabis: unclear
- Sports betting: unclear
- Abortion-rights: unclear
- Cutting income tax: unclear
Question: Northern Kentucky often feels disconnected from Frankfort for a variety of reasons. How are you earning the votes of Northern Kentuckians?
Answer: “By making connections with real people. One of the biggest problems with candidates is they don’t build strong relationships and have that real connection and show where they need to go when it comes to Kentucky and helping when it comes to economics and when it comes to education. When it comes to taking care of our senior citizens. All these things are interconnected with Kentucky. But if we can’t connect with that then what are we doing on the stage in the first place? And to me, we need to focus on how we take care of the crime area, especially local. And it goes across the whole Commonwealth. So, we’ve got to find ways to find out where that root cause is and then focus on that. Instead of just saying gun violence, gun violence, gun violence, and understanding that there’s somebody behind the gun and taking care of it which is human violence. And focusing on how we take care of that person, so we can stop the violence on the spot.”
Question: In 2019, Gov. Bevin lost Kenton and Campbell Counties, and his total decline from 2015 to 2019 was greater in Boone County than in the other two counties. What is your plan to appeal to suburban Republicans that were turned off by his rhetoric?
Answer: “What we need to do is we need to find ways to be more connected with Kentuckians. Having regulations not only to help them out but to improve life itself. And stop all this stuff that’s happening with Andy. He come up with these ridiculous laws, that hurts churches, and it hurts businesses and hurts all these things. So, I think he’s lowering the possibility for us to succeed when it comes to the quality of life even in our own small businesses. So, we need to have a hands-on and let them grow and prosper in their own ways. The environmental social government is one of those that I call a Nazi and they’re the ones that try to control our environment. They’re controlling our economics and trying to control our banks and telling you that you can’t for example if they want to get a loan, they can’t do it because they started to fall the ES regulations which is just ridiculous.”
Question: President Trump’s election paved the way for a record-setting conservative court system and overdue tax reform. His time in office also concluded with controversy around his election, two impeachments, and ongoing legal challenges. What lessons from Trump’s time in office do you take into the Kentucky executive branch?
Answer: “One thing about Benjamin Franklin, he was a diplomat, and he knew how to take care of people. He said that, once you get behind closed doors, you chew his butt out left and right, but when you get out in front of folks you treat him with respect and dignity. And that’s one of the things I think that even Bevin didn’t understand when they faced with the teachers, he got abrasive and to me, you don’t do that. You have to treat each other with kindness and compassion when it comes to dealing with problems that we face today. And even with President—I love President Trump, but a lot of times he was abrasive too and a lot of times his ego outweighed his common sense. We need to be patient and have the common sense to deal with each other on a respectful manner. And if we do that, then we won’t have the problems with teachers being angry with Bevins and then we would have another Republican governor even today.”
To watch the full live stream of the gubernatorial debate, click here.
