McCracken County has been a hotspot for billion dollar-plus economic development projects in recent years – including two uranium enrichment facilities and a data center campus that will also include a gas-fired power plant – that have garnered a mix of praise and concern. Now, voters are being asked to choose who will help guide the far western Kentucky county into a period of expected growth.
The Republican incumbent, Craig Clymer, is seeking a third term in office. He’s facing a challenge from Paducah Mayor George Bray, who filed to run in the race as an independent. Danielle Guminski, a nurse practitioner who ran for a seat on the county’s fiscal court in May’s primary, filed over the summer to run in the race as a write-in candidate.
All three candidates discussed their platforms in interviews with WKMS. Their responses have been transcribed and appear below in the order the candidates are listed on the ballot. Guminski’s name will not be listed on the ballot; voters wanting to select her will have to write her in the section of the ballot where the judge-executive’s race appears.
McCracken County voters can find other races up for grabs in November either on the county’s sample ballot or with WKMS’s ballot lookup tool.
Craig Clymer - Republican (incumbent)
Editor’s note: Clymer participated in an interview with WKMS. His answers have been transcribed, and have been edited for length and clarity. You can also listen to his interview below.
Q: What should voters know about you and why are you running for office?
A: Well, I think voters probably know me. I've been in public service for some 30 years, but I think really what people need to know about me is … I have nearly eight years of experience doing this job. I have built a lot of relationships. [In] a job like this, being in public service and being the elected leader of a county, relationships are really critical. So I have a good relationship across the state with the other judges, the commissioners, the state officials.
I have traveled with my team and others across the nation at these other [Department of Energy] Superfund sites, learning about the uranium enrichment, learning about the do's and don'ts and just building up a lot of knowledge base about those sorts of things. I think I've had a strong record of success over this eight years. [I spent] 23 years as a state judge. I was a police officer before that for about nine years, so you know somewhere [around] 30 years of public service. It's just what I enjoy doing.
During that eight years, McCracken County has gone really from a weak financial position to a strong financial position, strong enough even that we have begun reducing taxes. [With] the revenue that's coming from some of these new developments that's in the news – and I think people are aware of, likely – we will be able to continue to reduce taxes because of the broad tax base increase that these massive companies and the wealth they're bringing is going to bring into the county treasury. And so that reduces the liability that the citizens have to pay into the coffers. The new revenue is going to far exceed really even what we might have imagined over the years.
[I’ve] been working with the city hand-in-hand for eight years. It seems to be in the news that we need to work together more. I see that my opponent [George Bray] wants to make an issue of needing to collaborate more. I really, really think that that's just not so, because I don't know how we could collaborate more. Frankly, we've worked together strongly. In fact, the collaboration, the big points, really have been more from the county going to the city. I went to the mayor back years ago [to talk about] the 911 system that had been deteriorating. Long story short, got that done, finished that up just last year. It's a strong system. You can talk to any of the folks that use it: [emergency management], sheriff, fire, city, county. It built us so much stronger for the protection of the people, and so that was a good collaboration effort. And then the [Paducah Sports Park]: Well, there was some hesitancy for about a year but, I guess, again long story short, the mayor did come around and agree that they would do that. We just finished that up. I think by now it's pretty well finished. [We’ve] got teams out there. It's both our kids playing on the fields and bringing in the economic development, the travel ball and all that. So those are two really big areas we've been collaborating. I just don't follow this claim that we don't work together well. I think that we certainly do., at least right up until when [Mayor George Bray] filed to take my job. I think maybe we've not been able to see eye-to-eye quite so much since then, but the city's the county seat. If the city grows, the county grows, and vice-versa. So we want to work together with the city, and I think we're having great successes doing it.
Q: What would your priorities be, if elected?
A: Well, you know, we've got this really just unimaginable growth that's coming into the county out at the [U.S. Department of Energy] site, either on the site or adjoining it. And then we also have a very large project that we've been trying to work through for several years now – not sure it'll get done, it might – at the Triple Rail site. But this growth … we've got this $100 billion project that's going to be coming into the county. We've got two uranium enrichment projects with the Global Laser Enrichment and General Matter. Each of them is around a little over $1.5 billion – strong projects. [They’re] going to speed up the cleanup at the DOE site, and they're going to take that depleted, or used, uranium and enrich it for the needs of the nation. They tell me that there's enough depleted uranium sitting out there in a parking lot for the entire nation's needs for decades to come. So that's pretty strong.
[We] want to get those things pushed through. That's going to bring a lot of high-paying, six-figure jobs into this community. It's reindustrializing. It's taking that site that's been a liability, the legacy site there that's had a bad history – from back in the 50s through the 60s, 70s on – and getting that cleaned up at a faster rate, and then taking that land and then … bringing all these good jobs. That's the priority, really, and then to build out to prepare for all that growth.
We're going to have eight to 10,000 construction workers coming in here. They're already here, beginning, and so we got to provide the housing. We need probably 6,000 to 8,000 housing units, if you can imagine that. We need all the infrastructure, the sewer, the roads and so we've got a lot of planning to do. We've got to plan smart for that. I've put together, I think, a good framework for a plan. In our meetings in the next few weeks and months, we'll be getting that fleshed out.
Q: What do you see as the signature issue in your county over the next four years?
A: This DOE project in and around there is literally – people throw around the word literally kind of loosely but [I mean] literally– is going to transform our community, and not just McCracken County. I don't know that we can handle all this growth just inside of McCracken County and, not too long ago, Ballard County – along with McCracken County – received the recognition as Nuclear-Ready communities, and so we are pro-nuclear.
We're going to do it safely. That's, I guess, another priority we're gonna focus on is, as we build all this out, as this enormous growth and economic development occurs, we're not gonna do anything that we're not satisfied – [that] I'm not satisfied as well as the the experts in the field – that it's safe and we're not putting the environment or any person at harm.
Really it just pretty much circles around when you see the massive numbers when you talk about over a $100 billion of new growth coming into a community. Our property value right now is around $7 billion in real property in McCracken County. Now we're going to put in a project that's $100 billion, and so we don't know just yet what the tax revenue is going to come off of that, but it's going to be extremely large. It's going to allow us to certainly, I think, eliminate that insurance tax that nobody liked. I didn't like it. We just had to create some money. Now we've gotten strong. We're reducing those taxes.
We'll certainly be able to reduce taxes to a great extent with all this new revenue and the taxes that these companies are going to pay. I've made it clear to them: We're going to send them a tax bill just like we do everybody else, and they're going to pay their fair share. And they're agreeable. They understand that they need to do that.
Q: How would you work to improve the quality of life for county residents?
A: I hate to be a broken record, but when you're talking about the economy and the size of a county that we have and all of a sudden, again, I throw that over $100 billion coming into the community. It's going to allow us to reduce greatly the taxes on our local people. I don't intend for our residents to pay for the infrastructure – the expenses – for these companies to come in. They're going to a profit. They're … for-profit companies, but they have to pay their way and pay for the infrastructure that we need, and we're going to need to build out roads and sewers and and electricity and that sort of thing.
For decades in McCracken County, we have been hoping for good jobs, jobs that will keep our children and our grandchildren here, so that they don't have to wander off and go look for work somewhere else. And it's just so strong when a community can have the jobs, the family-sustaining jobs to come in, and jobs that you can take pride in.
I'm not trying to claim all that myself, but I put together a strong team, working with the city. We're the talk of the nation. We're the talk, certainly, of Kentucky. [State Senate Leader Robert Stivers] says Paducah/McCracken County is Kentucky's next boomtown. If I'd have thought half of this – a tenth of it – was going to happen eight years ago when I took office I'd have slapped myself and said, ‘Wake up! You know that ain't going to happen.’ But here we are. We're right here. We're on the one-yard line.
No disrespect to the mayor that's running against me, but I think it's like I told him when he came and told me he was going to run against me, I said, ‘George, you just got elected mayor. Why don't you stay mayor for the next three years? That's what you said you'd do. That's what people gave you. Do that. I'll stay judge for another four years. We'll continue to work together. We'll get all this growth and pull this all together, have a tremendous win together. Let's not stop at the one-yard line.’ I like George. We get along very well together. It's a challenge when somebody wants to take your job away from you. I'll admit that, but I think that we can be better together. I think we've got a winning team, city and county. Let's don't mess with success. Let's push this through and, boy, the community is really going to be better for it.
Q: What have you accomplished during your time in office and why should people vote you back in?
A: Well, here we go again. You know, I mean, I don't know how you get around $100 billion economic development, but you know the other thing we have done, you know, we've maintained a balanced budget. We've kept taxes low. As I said, we had to work. We had to raise taxes back earlier on. I'll never forget [former deputy judge-executive Steve] Doolittle coming to me and saying, "Hey, we got a problem,” … but anyway, we bit the bullet. I said ‘This is public service; it's not self-service.’ We can't do just what we want to do, and it was good for the community. And now we have started reducing those taxes and [we’re] going to continue to reduce them.
We're cleaning up neighborhoods over in Farley. There's a lot of dilapidated homes. We're putting some money into that. Heath, Lone Oak [and] Reidland, we've spent some money there making those parks nicer because we now have the revenue to do these things … and I mean we're just busting through the clouds now. I don't think anybody can argue that we're not doing an incredible job here in the county, and we'll just continue on, and we'll see the growth. But we want to grow smart. We're gonna be sure that I don't want us becoming you know like Clarksville or some place where it's so congested, traffic so bad, and there's not enough roads, there's not enough housing, there's not enough this and that. So we're going to work through that. We're on a tight schedule. I think this stuff is coming quick, but we're up to the challenge, and we'll get that done.
Of course, it's an election. Have I done enough to keep my job? Can the people trust me to represent them for another four years? And I would invite people to take a look at that. Where have I fallen short? Let me know. I guess you could always say, ‘You could have done more.’ You always could do better, but I'll just say when you elect a person to represent you, you need to know is he or she going to be honest with you? Can you trust that person and will they work on your behalf or are they going to represent themselves? And so, I think, and I would just tell the people if they were to give me another four years, I'll do all I can for them. They won't have to worry about me putting myself before the county, and I think we're just right there at the borderline of stepping into huge success. And I think we need to keep paddling, keep stroking, and we're gonna get where we need to be.
George Bray - Independent
Editor’s note: Bray participated in an interview for WKMS’s Voter Guide. His answers have been transcribed, and edited for length and clarity. You can also listen to his interview below.
Q: What should voters know about you and why are you running for office?
A: Well, I think it's important for voters to know my background, and my background and track record as a successful businessman leader in my company is something that's very important. I've spent a life, a life and a career, managing and working with people, leading teams and I retired after a very successful career [and] ran for mayor [of Paducah].
I've been mayor for six years. We've had more success in the city of Paducah in the last six years than we have in the last 25 or 30 combined. And so I stand on my track record, and I have the management style that creates an environment for success, and I believe that I can do that for all of McCracken County.
Q: What would your priorities be, if elected?
A: My priorities would be really to transform county government by providing more transparency to the electorate, my constituents, countywide; [and] to drive more teamwork into county government – teamwork among the county commissioners, myself and the county commissioners, as well as teamwork between the county judge-executive and the constitutional officers. The county judge-executives, in many cases, set the budget for the constitutional officers, and so there's a very symbiotic relationship that exists there that's very important. To make sure that there's a good working relationship, that would be very important to me.
And then maybe most importantly, is making sure that we are ready for the growth that is coming to McCracken County. We're getting ready to go through a growth stage in the county that we haven't seen for 75 years. We have a community here that is ready for that growth, but it needs to be planned for – and it needs to be planned as it relates to infrastructure, as it relates to the school system, as it relates to all the services that are going to support not only the construction workers that are going to come come into town and be involved with these projects, but also…the permanent jobs that are going to be here. And a lot of that has to do with housing. Housing is a critical element for us. It's an issue all over the country, all over the state. Our state legislature has made some changes – [and] are going to be making more changes – but I think county government has to get involved and help enable the developers and guide them in the right places. So a lot of my focus would be on growth, a lot of that on housing, teamwork and transparency, in short.
Q: What do you see as the signature issue in your county over the next four years?
A: The signature issue really is growth. This is gonna maybe sound repetitive a little bit, but the growth is the issue. People are asking questions out there: Are we ready for this growth that’s gonna occur? And the answer is, in some cases, yes but in some cases no. And I think it's the job of elected leadership to focus on those areas where growth is going to occur and pull people together, the important folks that need to be involved in the planning – and that's a whole cadre of people – and plan effectively for that growth. That really will be my focus. There's going to be more opportunities that are going to come to the county as a result of this growth, because my experience is growth begets growth. Once you start growing, people start paying attention to your community and you get more publicity, more notoriety. And so there is growth coming, and we have to manage it.
Q: How would you work to improve the quality of life for county residents?
A: Well, I think the most important thing is we have a quality of life in McCracken County that involves the City of Paducah as well as those who live outside the city limits. So there is a rural fabric of our community that's very important and so retaining that quality of life for people who want to live outside the city limits and not be in a more urbanized area, [who] pay lower taxes [and] have less services, but enjoy all the qualities of our community, which means coming into the city from time to time to do business, to be entertained. It's very important that we retain that quality of life, and that's something that I'm very, very committed to. So, you know, when you ask the question, ‘How do you improve the quality of life?’ I mean, certainly, you know, there's quality of life initiatives that we can undertake to improve the quality of life, but I happen to think that the quality of life that we have in McCracken County right now is pretty great. But, with the growth coming, managing that growth and retaining that quality of life and focusing on it is really what's most important to me.
Q: What needs to change in your local county government, and why should people vote you into office to do that?
A: Well, I think there's an opportunity. I've tried to keep this campaign as positive as possible. That's been important to me. But I think there is a huge opportunity to increase transparency within county government, making sure people know what is going on. Transparency is a platform I ran [on] when I ran for mayor. I have demonstrated transparency in everything that I do. I think … in the county there's an opportunity to communicate better, communicate more, to make sure that all of our constituents know what's going on in county government. So that's one thing.
I think there is an opportunity to drive more teamwork into county government. There's a county judge-executive, and there's three county commissioners, and if you look back at my track record in being able to work with my [city] commissioners, all of which come from different backgrounds and represent different different subsets of our population. My ability and skills to work with them, to pull them together for the common good, is something that I believe would make a huge difference in McCracken County government.
Really, there's a differentiation between myself and my opponent, [Judge-Executive Craig Clymer]. My opponent's background is as a policeman and as a sitting judge, a district judge, circuit judge, and my background is as a businessman. My skill sets and what I've spent my life's work in doing is different, and I have proved my ability to take my skills into the public sector as mayor. And I believe that my skill set lends itself to running a more professional county government and one that is focused on performance and measuring the things that we get accomplished, KPIs (key performance indicators), setting goals and going out and achieving those goals and, I think, my track record speaks for itself in that regard.
And I believe that I can make a huge difference in improving county government and the things that we get done with and through county government. I'm honored to have served as this community's mayor. I've been mayor of the city, but really on most occasions I really speak for the entire community when I'm representing Paducah. I would respectfully ask for people to consider my campaign. I have a website that goes into more detail. If someone has a question that they would like to ask me about my campaign, my cell phone is readily available: (614) 397-4615. And other than that, I would respectfully ask for people's vote.
Danielle Guminski - Write-In
Editor’s note: Guminski participated in an interview with WKMS. Her answers have been transcribed and edited for length and clarity. You can also listen to her interview below. As a qualified write-in candidate under state law, Guminski’s name will not appear on the ballot under the judge-executive’s race – but write-in votes for her will be counted.
Q: What should voters know about you and why are you running for office?
A: Well, first and foremost, I am an everyday citizen. I'm a single mom of six kids and a 36-year resident of McCracken County. Professionally, I am a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Every day, I talk to people from all walks of life – families working two jobs to keep the lights on, people fighting through addiction and abuse and people who just feel ignored by our local government. These aren't just statistics to me; these are real people, and I am a fierce advocate for the people our current leadership ignores. I'm running as a write-in candidate because when voters look at the ballot, they're being offered two sides of the same coin: political musical chairs between the wealthy who have completely lost touch with real human struggles. Elected officials are supposed to work for the people – all of the people. McCracken County deserves an independent voice in the judge-executive's office who understands our community's real struggles, actually listens to the taxpayers, and puts all people first, not just the wealthy.
Q: What would your priorities be, if elected?
A: Well, there's a lot of priorities, but if elected, my focus is going to be on three practical things. First, we have to deal with the housing crunch, and that starts with reforming our building and electrical inspection department. So, right now, our local builders and contractors, they're running into so much red tape and delays with county permitting and inspections that some are just throwing their hands up and walking away. We need our inspection department to be an efficient partner, working with the local builders to get modest, attainable homes built before our shortage becomes completely out of hand.
Second, stop treating taxpayers like an endless piggy bank. When a regular family is feeling the financial pinch, we don't just demand more money because no one's going to give it to us. We look at what we're spending, we cut out the extras and we take care of the essentials first. And the county should be doing the exact same thing with our money. Before anyone even mentions raising taxes, the county needs to be looking at where our tax money is going. Is it going towards the basic things every day that matter? Paving our roads, fixing the drainage problems that's causing flooding into people's apartments and homes and streets and supporting our first responders?
Third, actually be transparent about decisions that are being made. Too many people feel like the county government is stuck in the past and only works for each other. You shouldn't have to know somebody just to get a straight answer or a permit approved, and our people are tired of the constant bickering between the city and the county. We all drive the same roads and shop at the same grocery stores. It's time for real leadership that puts egos aside and actually listens to what the people need and does the job they were elected to do.
Q: What do you see as the signature issue in your county over the next four years?
A: To me, the biggest issue over the next four years comes down to a simple question: Is our county government looking out for the families who actually live here or are we just bending over backwards for the outside corporations? Look at what's happening out in West Paducah right now. Our current leadership is rolling out the red carpet for massive AI data centers, nuclear projects. They love the flashy press releases, but they aren't being straight with us about what's coming next. These projects bring in thousands of temporary construction workers. But once that construction wraps up, there's very few permanent jobs that are going to be left for the local folks. Meanwhile, nobody in leadership is planning for the mess that's going to be left behind. Housing around here is already tough enough. Regular working people are struggling to find affordable rent or homes to purchase right now, and some are even being pushed towards homelessness before shovels even have hit the ground with all of these new corporations coming in. Flooding the county with temporary crews is going to create a fake housing bubble. The second that construction ends and those crews leave town, home values are going to plummet and local families who bought homes at the peak, they're going to be stuck with upside down mortgages.
And then, on top of that, these data centers are going to chew through enormous amounts of electricity and water, and who's going to end up paying for that? We will. Everyday families are going to watch their utility bills keep climbing higher and higher and our county roads, which are already in despair, county roads are going to get beaten to pieces even more, just so that the outside tech companies can make a profit. We've already seen this exact same mindset when USEC started originally. And then the mess that's left behind, we, the taxpayers, we, the community members, are left dealing with it.
I'm not against growth. We have to have growth, but growth should not gamble our family's financial future or our family's health. We need common sense in county government – keeping our bills affordable, taking care of our deputies and basic services, and making sure that McCracken County residents come first, not last.
Q: How would you work to improve the quality of life for county residents?
A: Well, to me, improving quality of life, it's not about being the CEO of the courthouse or chasing flashy ribbon cuttings. It comes down to safety, dignity [and] making sure that our county government actually looks out for the people who live here. So first, we have to back the people that protect us, and that means competitive pay and modern equipment for our sheriff's deputies, [and] more deputies. But it also means dependable funding also for our volunteer fire departments. I live in Reidland, and our department is a volunteer department. These folks are putting their lives on the line for our county, and they can't do their job on empty promises and no funds.
Second, we have to stop the taxpayer drain and fix the crisis inside of our county jail. So, right now, the county jail outsources the medical department to a private for-profit company that has zero real oversight. So when the county gets sued, which it does quite often, it's not the politicians who pay; it is our local taxpayers footing the bill. We need direct medical oversight and accountability inside the McCracken County Jail to save lives and protect taxpayer dollars.
Third, we need to look out for our kids, our youth. They are the future of our community, and then the folks that are falling through the cracks – and there's a lot of people falling through the cracks – our kids, they need a safe place, a supervised place to go to after school. They need places to hang out that are safe that aren't introducing them to gangs and drugs and violence and sex. When it comes to homelessness, we need to be proactive [in] community outreach [and]connecting people with real help, rather than waiting until the folks are suffering on the streets and then hiding them away in Farley.
Finally, we need to put heart back in our local government. When an elderly neighbor or a struggling family gets behind on their yard work, government shouldn't just slap them with fines and liens and threaten to take their home. We should be organizing community cleanups where neighbors help neighbors. And, most importantly, we need to stop the divide between people living in the city and those of us out in the county. We aren't two separate classes of people. We are all one community, and quality of life improves when we have leadership that brings people together instead of tearing us apart.
Q: What needs to change in your local county government, and why should people vote you into office to do that?
A: Well, what needs to change is simple: county government needs to stop acting like it rules over us, and remember that it works for us. For years, we've watched local politicians treat the courthouse like an exclusive country club. They cut backroom deals, cater to the wealthy developers and focus on their own power trips and financial interests. Then they put on a fake mask for the camera, renting bouncy houses and putting on a PR show to pretend they actually care about struggling families and dogs at the animal shelter. We literally watched the incumbent [judge-executive] waste nearly an hour of the public fiscal court meeting on an ego trip over a dog, where he actually declared himself as “the CEO [who has control of this] courthouse.” McCracken County doesn't need a self-appointed CEO or a sitting mayor whose only goal is power and money. We need public servants with a backbone to actually do their job with integrity. A community is made up of everyday working people, not just the wealthy and the good old boy club.
Serving as the county judge executive means acting as the county's chief executive officer and lead public servant, rather than a tyrant. The role involves directing daily county operations while maintaining fiscal accountability and leading the fiscal court. Ultimately, it means being the front-line advocate for everyday residents, steering the community through emergencies and driving responsible and long-term growth.
So I am just an everyday citizen. I am not a career politician. I hate politics. In the real world, there's zero room for ego, excuses or passing the buck because people are suffering and hurting in our community and surrounding communities and, when something is broken, you don't just stage a photo op; you roll up your sleeves and you fix it. So I don't owe a dime or a favor to any developer, donor or political insider. I'm running as a write-in candidate because I want to put the power back where it belongs, back where it should have been all this time and that's in the hands of the people who actually live, work and pay the bills in McCracken County. We don't have to keep settling for the same recycled politicians trading seats. And so, on Election Day, I ask that people write in my name – Danielle Guminski – and let's take back our county. That's why I'm running.
