The tide turned swiftly in favor of Matt Bevin in the Kentucky governor’s race this week. He defeated the democratic attorney general, Jack Conway. The Democratic Governor’s association is blaming the landslide victory in “Trump-Mania” that they say is sweeping the country.
Bevin, a Tea Party favorite, beat out Conway, 53 to 44 percent. 40 of the last 44 years have seen a democratic governor for Kentucky. Steve Beshear, the current governor, is a twice-elected democrat.
Elisabeth Pearson, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, praised Conway’s platform and campaign, but ultimately cried sour grapes saying, “…he ran into the unexpected headwinds of Trump-mania, losing to an outsider candidate in the year of the outsider.”
Bevin himself even made the comparison. He is self-funded so he does have an interesting upper hand. In his words:
“I have no favors to pay back. There’s not one person in this state who believes they are going to have a job in my administration…There’s not one person who I’ve promised anything to…Donald Trump is an interesting fellow…Part of what people appreciate about him is the very same thing. He doesn’t owe anybody anything.”
Reports have noted that one of the deciding factors in the outcome of the gubernatorial race was the massive failure of Kentucky’s ObamaCare co-op which left 51,000 people uninsured. But democrats are still pointing towards Trump’s appeal instead of to their own failures.
Maybe not owing anyone anything really could decide the 2016 election. Donald Trump is still a surprise hit with the polls, whose only real competition is Ben Carson; a man who also has not had a long enough political career to accrue political debts.
Americans are tired of politicians politicizing. They want results and changes. The fact that non-politicians are finally entering the ring may ring the bell of some long overdue retirements.
