LEXINGTON, Ky. — He may not have dropped $5 million on a piece of prize-winning pork, but former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin didn’t go unnoticed at Thursday’s Kentucky Farm Bureau Annual Country Ham Breakfast.
The one-term governor, ousted by Democrat Andy Beshear in 2019, is rumored to have been weighing another bid for the Commonwealth’s highest office in 2023. His presence at the Ham Breakfast — and the Jefferson County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on Wednesday night — may only increase that chatter.
“If I were putting odds on it, I would probably say it’s at 40% that he gets in,” said Auditor Mike Harmon.
Harmon is one of several high-profile Republicans hoping to be Kentucky’s next governor, as are Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, State Rep. Savannah Maddox and former attorney Eric Deters.
And that’s not even including Kelly Craft, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, whose name is also frequently mentioned in political circles as a possible candidate. (Craft, for the second year in a row, placed the top bid on the ham along with Central Bank.)
While most of the field was recognized from the stage and given a chance to wave to the roughly 1,500 attendees, Bevin was not.
“The more the merrier,” Cameron said, noting he’ll leave it up to the voters to decide who is best among them. “This is a big party and a lot of voices can come to the table. Obviously, (Bevin) like anyone else, has a right to join if they so choose.”
Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, who has endorsed Cameron, said he’s not talked to the former governor about his intentions, but said, “I don’t know if this is his time to run again.
“He had his chance with governor Beshear and it didn’t happen. It’s probably a good time to let somebody new come along.”
Bevin was already unpopular in the state before he narrowly lost his re-election bid to Beshear in 2019, but his highly controversial late-term pardons also drew the ire of many within his own party.
Maddox has received the endorsement of fellow ‘liberty’-aligned Fourth District U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Comer of the First District has strongly hinted he’ll throw his weight behind Craft.
But many other elected officials are hesitant to weigh in on the 2023 primary.
U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, from Kentucky’s Second District, and U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, from the Sixth, each told The Herald-Leader they’re focused on their own races this November instead of the governor’s contest.
“I’m very, very encouraged that we’ve got so much interest on the Republican side with very talented, great people running for the nomination for governor,” Barr said. “I think it shows the enthusiasm and energy on the Republican side for a change.”
Guthrie said the candidates who “are running or are going to run” are fairly similar ideologically and will likely differentiate themselves by leadership style.
“Primaries are something Republicans are having to get used to, but it’s a good problem to have,” he said.
Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, just smiled when asked about the potential of another Bevin candidacy.
“I’m focused on special session right now as speaker, so I’ll let the governor’s candidates work that out themselves,” he said. “It seems like everybody here in the crowd today was running for something. I’m just trying to get a piece of legislation passed.”
Sen. Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, who worked in Bevin’s administration, said he didn’t know the former governor’s plans.
“We’re reaping the benefits now of what he did with economic development. ... I told him sometimes, ‘Matt, you need to kinda calm that down,’” he said, using his hand to gesture in a talking motion. “But that’s the way he is. He takes the heat and he does what he thinks is correct.”
As for 2023, Nemes doesn’t plan to endorse; he’s got too many friends in the running.
“They’re all great,” he said. “And Kelly Craft’s good, too.”
