He wasn’t their first pick, but Democrats now backing Josh Hicks to face Andy Barr
It appears the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has settled on a candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, in 2020: Josh Hicks.
“All my indications are that they’re very satisfied with him as a candidate,” said Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, Kentucky’s only Democrat in Congress.
Hicks, who announced his candidacy in August, was not the DCCC’s original pick. According to Brett Anders, Hicks’ campaign manager, when the campaign reached out to the DCCC early in the campaign, they were told they already had a candidate.
That candidate was apparently Colmon Elridge, who worked in former Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration. Elridge did not return a phone call requesting comment.
Yarmuth said he wasn’t sure what was happening with Elridge, but that he is not aware of the DCCC recruiting anyone in the district because the recruitment team likes Hicks as a candidate.
“I think they think he fits the district, he’s smart as hell, has great political instincts and they like his profile,” Yarmuth said.
That profile was put on display in a launch video the Lexington attorney’s campaign released Tuesday, timed to capture Kentucky’s political attention as it shifts from this year’s governor’s race to the 2020 federal elections.
The video emphasizes Hicks’ background — he went from a construction worker, to a Marine, to a police officer, to a lawyer — as he hammers home the point that there aren’t enough people who come from a working-class background in Congress.
“So at the end of my life, what will determine if my name was good enough is did I work hard enough, did I do what the people elected me to do, did I do what my family needed,” Hicks says over the folk song Barbry Allen. “That’s what will make my name good enough.”
The message is underscored by its contrast with Hicks’ potential opponent, Barr, who grew up in the upper echelon of Lexington society.
“This brand of ‘us vs. them’ politics is precisely what has produced an obsession with impeachment in Washington, instead of a positive agenda that would actually make life better for all American families,” said Jodi Whitaker, Barr’s spokeswoman. “That’s why Congressman Barr remains focused on doing the job he was elected to do — promoting pro-growth policies.”
The video highlights Hick’s rural background over his current status as an attorney who lives in Lexington as he attempts to connect with the rural areas of the Sixth Congressional District in Central Kentucky. Those rural areas ended up being the downfall of Barr’s last opponent, former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath, who lost to Barr by three percentage points in 2018.
Yarmuth has been critical of Democratic attempts to court Trump voters in Kentucky, but said Hicks might be able to use his roots to appeal to voters on the basis of cultural background.
“I don’t expect him to go out and act like a sophisticated urbane James Bond,” Yarmuth said. “My feeling is that in that district, it’s all about turnout, it’s making sure every Democratic vote gets out and I think he can do that. My impression is that he has rural roots, but he’s actually very progressive.”
The DCCC has made Barr a target after McGrath’s close loss in 2018. Anders, Hicks’ campaign manager, said he still isn’t sure if the DCCC will fully back Hicks before the January candidate filing deadline, but said he would welcome their support.
“I hope so, because it seems pretty clear to me that Josh is 100 percent the right candidate to represent the district,” Anders said.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 8:54 AM.
