Beshear v. Bevin and ‘Moscow Mitch’: Five things to watch at Fancy Farm 2019

Kentucky politicians and the politically associated are once again making their annual pilgrimage to Western Kentucky this week for the annual St. Jerome Parish Picnic in Fancy Farm.

Not your average parish picnic, the Fancy Farm picnic marks the kickoff to the General Election season in Kentucky.

With a contentious race for governor sucking up a lot of attention and a big U.S. Senate race looming in the distance, the event will feature fiery speeches from the marquee matchup of Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear. A passel of down-ballot candidates will also be elbowing for attention and there are some notable no-shows: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Amy McGrath, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.

The stakes are high.

“It’s a good test of your mettle because you have to be able to do it all,” Republican consultant Les Fugate said of the event, which requires candidates to plow through speeches in the summer heat as a roaring crowd of hecklers makes their feelings known. “At the end of the day, Fancy Farm is the biggest political event in Kentucky.”

Here are five things to watch at this year’s picnic, which will again be broadcast live on KET:

Bevin v. Beshear

The first time Gov. Matt Bevin took the stage at Fancy Farm, in 2015, he didn’t have a lot nice to say about the yearly Kentucky political tradition.

“We literally are celebrating the very worst elements of the political process,” Bevin said before leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. “We are celebrating our divisions and we’re doing it in a childish way.”

The next year, he again started with the Pledge of Allegiance. Then he pivoted, embracing the nature of the event by poking fun at Attorney General Andy Beshear, who skipped the event in 2016.

Three years, and several lobbed insults later, Bevin will be back at Fancy Farm, this time sharing the stage with his political rival in the midst of a heated campaign to overcome low approval ratings and win reelection.

The governor notoriously speaks from the hip at events — a contributing factor to why so many of his comments have sparked outrage — so it’s uncertain whether he will attack Beshear or take the rise-above-it route.

“You just never know with Bevin,” said Jonathan Miller, a former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party. “The reason he frustrates Democrats so much and so many on the right like him is because he’s Trump-like in that he is unpredictable.”

Beshear, on the other hand, typically sticks to his script. He tipped his hand earlier this week on some of his potential talking points at Fancy Farm, first with an announcement that Republican state Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, was endorsing him over Bevin, then by unveiling a proposed ethics overhaul in state government that took shots at Bevin.

“I expect nothing but negativity,” Miller said. “It’s become that kind of a race.”

Mitch McConnell

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spent his week in Washington being called “Moscow Mitch” after critics accused him of blocking bipartisan election reform bills from getting a vote in the Senate.

McConnell, upset at the moniker, took to the Senate floor to call the nickname “modern day McCarthyism” and to defend his anti-Russia bona fides.

He still won’t be able to escape the nickname this weekend.

“I’m sure Moscow Mitch will appear at Fancy Farm,” said Marisa McNee, the communications director for the Kentucky Democratic Party. “He’s confirmed, isn’t he?”

The Kentucky Democratic Party, eager for anything that will help them take down McConnell in 2020, has already capitalized on the whole affair and is selling “Moscow Mitch” buttons, t-shirts and mugs to raise money for the party. Democrats say they have sold more than $200,000 of the merchandise in two days.

McConnell has already drawn Democratic opponents in his bid for a sixth term, including former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath and farmer Mike Broihier. Both are likely to get some attention from McConnell, but his focus will largely be on the statewide races occurring this year.

It’s unclear if McConnell will spend most of his speech touting himself, trashing McGrath, or focusing on the race for governor and attorney general.

Republican Daniel Cameron, McConnell’s former staff lawyer, is running against former House Speaker Greg Stumbo in the race for attorney general. McConnell’s surrogates — the former staffers who often help with Kentucky campaigns — have already turned much of their focus to the race for attorney general and their old boss might do the same.

McConnell’s relationship with Bevin is a little more distant. Bevin was stomped by McConnell during their 2014 Republican primary for U.S. Senate and the two aren’t considered particularly close. However, McConnell does have a history with the Beshear family. He handily defeated former Gov. Steve Beshear in his 1996 Senate race, sidelining the elder Beshear from politics until 2007. It’s safe to assume McConnell will have some harsh words for the younger Beshear on Saturday.

Amy McGrath’s absence

Amy McGrath took a hiatus from media appearances after her campaign announcement in early July resulted in both millions of dollars for her campaign and backlash from the progressive base in Kentucky after she said she would have voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (she later apologized and said, after further reflection, that she wouldn’t have voted for him).

This week, she reappeared, first on MSNBC, then on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM show and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee before heading to Harlan County to support miners who were given cold paychecks by the bankrupt Blackjewel LLC.

The one place she won’t be appearing? Fancy Farm.

McGrath would not have gotten the opportunity to speak from the stage at the event (it’s limited to candidates running in 2019 and incumbents) and she said the focus should be on statewide races this year, rather than on 2020.

But having only campaigned in Central Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District, McGrath is missing an opportunity to talk with potential voters and make speeches at the many events surrounding the picnic.

Her absence will likely add fuel to Republican arguments that she’s more focused on fundraising than Kentuckians.

“If you’re running for office or you think you’re running for office, why would you not be where all the political attention is focused?” Fugate said.

Meanwhile, one of her Democratic primary opponents, little-known farmer Mike Broihier will be at Fancy Farm. He also made a trip to Harlan County.

“Mike believes it’s important to be down in the Purchase (region) to talk to Kentucky Democrats over a plate of barbeque rather than being out of state talking to donors,” said Kim Geveden, Broihier’s campaign manager.

Race for attorney general

Fancy Farm is known for its nasty political rhetoric, but this year’s race for attorney general has a big head start.

Daniel Cameron, the Republican, has aired ads calling Democrat Greg Stumbo a “deadbeat dad” because of a settlement agreement he entered in 2003 over missed child support payments. Stumbo, in kind, has responded by calling Cameron a liar.

That rhetoric will likely only get more heated as they head into the church picnic, especially after the Kentucky Democratic Party called on Cameron to denounce a former Republican Party of Kentucky staffer who criticized Stumbo’s daughter on Twitter. That criticism came after she said she looked forward to having Cameron insulting her father to her face at Fancy Farm.

Cameron is heading into the event fresh off an endorsement from President Donald Trump, but it’ll be his first time on the stage at Fancy Farm. Stumbo, a former attorney general and speaker of the House of Representatives, has been on stage many, many times.

“This is where Stumbo shines,” Fugate said. “He’s an excellent stump speaker and he’s folksy in a way that appeals to Western Kentucky.”

Who can stand out?

With so much attention at the top of the ticket, it will be difficult for the other candidates running for statewide office to get attention.

That could be a good thing — the old axiom for politicians at Fancy Farm is to escape without making a mistake. But a standout moment from a down-ballot candidate can also create buzz about their political future, potentially laying the groundwork for a campaign for higher office down the road.

“They’re all vying for very limited airspace and trying to break through that clutter is difficult,” Fugate said.

Former auditor Adam Edelen was one of those candidates who really stood out from the crowd when he was running for auditor in 2015, prompting Rachel Maddow to talk about his performance at Fancy Farm on MSNBC.

This story was originally published August 2, 2019 at 10:40 AM.