In an unusual turn of events, former Republican Governor Matt Bevin, after teasing his gubernatorial announcement on Twitter, showed up at the Capitol, gave a nearly 20-minute speech, walked out the front door to the parking lot, got in his van, and drove off.
Earlier in the day, Bevin Tweeted a picture driving on the highway in Kentucky. At 1 p.m., he Tweeted that he would show up in the capitol rotunda at 2:45 p.m. to make a few announcements and proceed down the hall.
Bevin was teasing walking down the hall to the Secretary of State’s office but instead bolted out the front door of the capitol building.
In his speech, he talked about everything from what he called Kentucky’s broken education system to the juvenile justice system, inflation, tax systems, and infrastructure.
“This is an incredibly special place,” Bevin said.
He said that in Northern Kentucky, the area should build a bypass around I-71, I-75, and the AA Highway.
“Cincinnati has nowhere else to grow except South,” Bevin said of Northern Kentucky.
First elected in 2015, Bevin was an unpopular figure in both chambers of the Republican-dominated legislature during his time as governor. He lost his reelection bid to Gov. Andy Beshear in 2019.
Bevin gained notoriety at the end of his first term for a series of pardons of convicted killers, child rapists, and others.
The move drew the scorn of Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders. It also led NKY Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment to change the pardon process.
Among those who received the pardons issued by Bevin were Micah Schoettle, convicted in 2018 of raping a 9-year-old child in Kenton County. He received a sentence of 23 years in prison.
“I don’t know if I could be any angrier right now. Not just this case, but the dozens of other cases I’m hearing about from all over Kentucky,” Sanders said, as reported by WKRC-TV at the time.
He also commuted the sentence and granted a full pardon to a Campbell County man convicted of two felony counts of trafficking a controlled substance in court in June of 2017.
John “JR” Roth was indicted in August of 2016 for possessing morphine and oxycodone with the intent to sell. He was sentenced later that year. Roth is now a Campbell County Constable.
Bevin would have entered a crowded field of Republican primary candidates, and would have faced a steep uphill battle to catch up to the top fundraisers in the race for Governor. Beshear has raised more than $5 million for his re-election campaign, and the top fundraiser in the Republican field, Kelly Craft, has raised $1.2 million.