Breonna Taylor

On Tuesday, Kentuckians will vote in the state’s highly publicized — and very expensive — governor’s race. Democrat incumbent Andy Beshear is facing off against current Republican attorney general Daniel Cameron. Polls throughout the race have shown Beshear leading by double digits, but GOP consultants I’ve spoken to are cautiously optimistic about Cameron’s chances, noting that his numbers have been rising over the past couple of weeks and that many Kentucky voters remain undecided, which is usually bad news for the incumbent. Trump also reupped his endorsement of Cameron this week in an attempt to disrupt Beshear’s relatively high approval rating among Trump supporters.  Cameron’s recent rise has inspired some late-stage nastiness.

Lexington, KentuckyIt wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not that Amy McGrath wasn’t supposed to win Kentucky’s delayed primary for the US Senate seat held by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The problem was she was supposed to win in a cakewalk. Instead, she eked out a victory over State Representative Charles Booker, who made a late charge from the impoverished West Side of Louisville during a wave of racial unrest and deadly protests that have wracked Kentucky’s largest city for weeks.McGrath is a former Marine bomber pilot who lost a high profile bid to unseat Rep. Andy Barr two years ago. It wasn’t long before Chuck Schumer tapped her to run against his Republican counterpart in the Senate.