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Scott Jennings may have spent months in 2014 running ads defending U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as he faced Matt Bevin in the primary, but come 2015 with Bevin as the likely GOP nominee, Jennings is promising his support. “I’m going to vote for Matt Bevin; I’m going to vote for the entire Republican ticket,” Jennings said in an interview with Pure Politics on Thursday. Even though Bevin opted to not endorse McConnell in the 2014 general election, Jennings said he expects McConnell will endorse Bevin in the 2015 race. The outcome of the GOP gubernatorial primary is still up for...

It appears that 17.3 percent of Kentucky's registered Republicans have by 83 votes nominated Matt Bevin to be the party's candidate for governor. We will not know this for certain, however, until the recanvass requested by apparent runner-up James Comer is completed, and perhaps after that if there is an actual recount. Democrats nominated Jack Conway. His opponent, a complete unknown who did not mount a serious campaign, nonetheless got more than one out of every five votes cast. Conway supposedly wanted Bevin to win. He got his wish and will soon regret it if Bevin's well-run primary campaign and...

When a statewide race unofficially comes down to 83 votes, pinpointing the exact cause of the second-place finisher’s electoral shortcomings is an exercise in futility. That’s especially true in the case of Agriculture Commissioner James Comer. Republican analysts pointed to Comer’s light political activity in Jefferson County, the “Fort Sumter” speech he gave in the backyard of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers in late 2013 and allegations, which he has categorically denied, of abusing a college girlfriend and escorting her to an abortion clinic as factors in his unofficial narrow defeat at the hands of Louisville investment manager Matt Bevin. Virtually...

[Kentucky] - Just seven days from the May 19 primary, state Republicans are split in their support among gubernatorial contenders. Merely 3 percentage points separates the top candidate from third place in the race, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll conducted by SurveyUSA for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Louisville Courier Journal, WKYT-TV and WHAS-TV. Louisville investment manager Matt Bevin leads the field with 27 percent, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has 26 percent and former Louisville Metro Councilman Hal Heiner has 25 percent in the poll. Former state Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott is polling at 8 percent. The poll, conducted...

LEXINGTON — A bitter Band-Aid was ripped off at the onset, but Kentucky’s gubernatorial candidates touched on a bevy of subjects during their final debate on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight” on Monday. Bill Goodman, who moderated the debate, started the statewide broadcast by asking Agriculture Commissioner James Comer about allegations of abuse levied by a college girlfriend last week and former Louisville Metro Councilman Hal Heiner whether his campaign had any involvement in Marilyn Thomas’ decision to air the accusations that date back to 1991. Comer said he has been truthful in his denials of Thomas’ allegations of physical and mental...

The poll of 501 Republican primary voters finds James Comer leading the pack with 28 percent, Hal Heiner with 27 percent, and Matt Bevin at 25 percent. The survey has a margin or error of +/- of 4.4 percent, placing the top three candidates neck and neck.

The ex-girlfriend of Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate James Comer wants him to take a lie detector test over her claims that he was physically abusive and took her to an abortion clinic. On Monday, the Louisville Courier-Journal published allegations from Marilyn Thomas, Comer's ex-girlfriend from their time together at Western Kentucky University more than 20 year ago, based in part on a four-page letter she sent the paper in which she described how their relationship had been "toxic, abusive and caused me a lot of suffering." According to the paper, Thomas claimed Comer was physically and emotionally abused. The paper...

An already tense GOP gubernatorial primary grew testier Wednesday as the four candidates vying for their party’s nomination debated issues – both personal and statewide – on Kentucky Sports Radio. Allegations of abuse levied by a college girlfriend against Agriculture Commissioner James Comer overshadowed the latter half of the hourlong forum. In a one-on-one segment with KSR host Matt Jones, Comer again denied accusations of mental and physical abuse and that he drove his ex to an abortion clinic in 1991 while a student at Western Kentucky University. He blamed fellow Republican gubernatorial hopeful Hal Heiner’s campaign for pushing the...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Republican candidate for governor James Comer has flatly denied he abused his college girlfriend and said his campaign was moving forward. Comer, one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor, scheduled a news conference Tuesday at the Hilton Lexington/Downtown to address the allegations. The news conference comes one day after Marilyn Thomas outlined several accusations in a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal and threatened to bring down his campaign two weeks before Election Day. In a letter to the Courier-Journal, Thomas said Comer hit her and drove her to a medical clinic to receive...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Hal Heiner has issued an apology after reports surfaced that the husband of his running mate had communicated with a blogger who promotes material against James Comer, one of Heiner’s GOP opponents in the May 19 primary. The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Sam Youngman reported the story on Wednesday. The newspaper obtained emails that showed Scott Crosbie, husband of Heiner’s lieutenant governor pick KC Crosbie, speaking in the fall with Lexington attorney Michael Adams, who operates a website dedicated solely to Comer. KC Crosbie was copied on some emails, according to the Herald-Leader. Comer, Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner, denied the...

[Ky.]Republican gubernatorial primary candidate James Comer announced the endorsement of a prominent tea party figure in U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Vanceburg who represents the geographically diverse 4th Congressional district Wednesday. Massie has not endorsed in other GOP primary contests, including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 bid for re-election against primary contender Matt Bevin. “James Comer is my choice for Kentucky’s next Governor because he exhibits the leadership qualities that our Commonwealth needs,” Massie said in a statement. “I’ve seen him in the halls of Congress advocating effectively on behalf of Kentucky’s farmers and entrepreneurs. I’ve watched him restore trust...

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s decision to expand Medicaid eligibility has put the state on an unsustainable path when the federal government ratchets down its share of the bill beginning in 2017, Republican gubernatorial candidates James Comer and Hal Heiner say. Beshear’s executive order, made possible through the Affordable Care Act, has added more than 425,000 recipients to Kentucky’s Medicaid rolls, and Washington, D.C., has paid 100 percent of the costs for the newly eligible. Beshear based his decision in part on the projected $15.6 billion economic impact once the program is fully implemented in fiscal year 2021. .... “When Gov....

[Ky.]Republican gubernatorial candidate Hal Heiner took the stage at about 8:45 election night to thank his staff, volunteers and family for their support. He said although the race didn’t end the way that he and his running mate KC Crosbie wanted it to end, they are still proud of their journey and would not trade the experience for anything. He said he called Matt Bevin to congratulate him on his victory and told him he needs Bevin to beat Jack Conway in the general election in November. You can hear the full concession speech here:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin’s speech sure sounded like an acceptance speech, in spite of the slim margin of victory and the recanvass that will follow. He thanked his supporters, staff, wife and nine children as well as his running mate. He was proud to point out that he and Jenean Hampton grew up poor and said their rise to this election is what Kentucky is all about. Hear his full speech here:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jamie Comer is holding out hope for a recanvass of votes to go his way. But he said Tuesday night that he called opponent Matt Bevin and promised to walk door to door with him to help him beat Jack Conway in the fall, if it came down to that. Hear his speech below:

In some of their final pitches to voters, candidates seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination are taking softer approaches on the television airwaves as Tuesday’s primary nears. Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has tapped his wife, T.J. Comer, to stand in on his behalf in the latest ad after a tumultuous week of negative stories alleging he physically and mentally abused a college girlfriend. The campaigning got so bad, that the Washington Post declared Kentucky’s primary the “nastiest race” of 2015. In the ad T.J. says she knows, “James Comer as a loving father and proud father of three children.” “You probably...

With one week to go and the race turning tense, a new Bluegrass Poll found no clear favorite in the battle for the Republican nomination to battle likely-Democratic nominee Jack Conway in the Kentucky governor’s race. Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and former Louisville councilman Hal Heiner are effectively even among likely-Republican voters, according to the poll conducted for WKYT-TV, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Louisville Courier-Journal, and WHAS-TV. Fireworks erupted last week and the race turned divisive after abuse allegations involving Comer surfaced and questions were raised about whether Heiner's campaign was involved in them becoming public....

Businessman Matt Bevin is the guy some see moving up in the Kentucky GOP governor's primary. Bevin also challenged now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a primary last year. These two things are not distinct from one another. Now that Bevin's chances appear to be on the rise in the May 19 primary (thanks to Agriculture Commissioner James Comer's problems), here comes Team McConnell to knock him down a peg or two. And boy do they. Here is top McConnell aide Josh Holmes on Bevin in a new Lousiville Courier-Journal story: Josh Holmes, McConnell's former chief of staff and...

Tea party favorite Matt Bevin, who challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary last year, made a surprise announcement Tuesday that he is running for governor in the Bluegrass State."After many months of prayer and consultation with my family and fellow Kentuckians all around our Commonwealth, I am pleased to announce that I am running for Governor of Kentucky," he said in a statement. "It is not a decision I have made lightly, but rather, after careful consideration of all the variables currently in this race."Bevin's last-minute entry to the race will likely shake up the path to...

The top Republican in the Senate, who could become the majority leader if pro-life Republicans defeat pro-abortion Democrats in top Senate races tonight and pick up a majority of the seats in the chamber, won his battle for re-election. Pro-life Sen. Mitch McConnell defeated pro-abortion Alison Grimes handily, as early election returns in his state showed him getting the vote he needed to return to the Senate. mitchmconnellTop pro-life groups like National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List endorsed McConnell, who has a sterling pro-life voting record during his tenure in Washington. “The contrast between Mitch McConnell...