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State Lawmakers Have Varied Theories on Interest in Election

Photo by Dwight Burdette, via Wikimedia Commons

  Election Day is just over a week away and candidates are working right up to the wire to win over voters. Veteran democratic state representative and budget committee chair Rick Rand says the never ending drive for campaign funding likely plays a role in the lack of interest in this election.  

“Candidates have to spend so much time raising money to the bitter end because they think this dark money is gonna come in, you don’t know where it’s coming from,” said Rand. “I think that the result is that kind of taps down enthusiasm a little bit.”

Rand says attention to the Presidential race has also taken a little wind out of the sails of the state campaigns.  Senate President Robert Stivers, a republican, says he’s unsure if any Kentucky candidate has captivated the public’s attention.  Stivers adds, local races and presidential contests seem to garner more interest.  “There is not a federal election," Stivers said.  'There are no local elections.  There are no state senate or state representative elections, so it’s not felt to be local.  And, you know, all politics is local.”

Stivers says this week’s Breeders Cup in Lexington is unlikely to take any attention away from the election.  He adds, the high profile horse racing event promotes a positive view of the entire state.

Governor Steve Beshear believes there have been lasting effects from a tough GOP gubernatorial primary.  “It seems to me, from afar at least, that this particular republican primary was harmful to the eventual nominee because it got so nasty," said Beshear. "I think a lot of republicans out here are kind of turned off by the whole campaign right now.” 

Election day is November 3. 

Stu Johnson is a reporter/producer at WEKU in Lexington, Kentucky.
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