Man who tried to impeach Beshear challenging Alice Forgy Kerr in state Senate primary
An ardent opponent of Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions announced Tuesday that he will challenge Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, for her seat in the General Assembly in 2022.
Andrew Cooperrider, the owner of Brewed coffee shop in Lexington and one of the four men who filed a petition to impeach Beshear earlier this year, said he’s challenging Kerr because the political landscape has changed since she was first elected in 1999.
“I think certainly the 12th District is in need of some conservative representation as we go into this new age,” Cooperrider said.
Kerr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cooperrider entered the political conversation as one of the leading opponents in Lexington against the restrictions the Beshear Administration put in place to stem the spread of COVID-19.
In November of last year, as COVID-19 cases surged and Beshear ordered restaurants to close their indoor dining areas, Cooperrider refused to comply and was sued by the Lexington Fayette County Health Department. The case was dismissed after the restrictions expired.
Cooperrider was later one of four men who signed a petition to impeach Beshear, which caused the creation of a House Impeachment Committee and a flurry of other impeachment petitions against Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Rep. Robert Goforth, R-East Bernstadt. The committee said it had no jurisdiction over Goforth and advised the House of Representatives not to take action on the petitions against Beshear or Cameron.
During that time, Cooperrider was briefly registered as a member of the Libertarian Party. He said he changed his affiliation during the pandemic because he felt there was not enough pushback on the restrictions from establishment Republicans, but switched back because he disagrees with the Libertarian Party on things like abortion rights.
The Libertarian Party believes the government should stay out of abortion decisions. Cooperrider is anti-abortion rights.
Cooperrider said he sees himself as a Republican in the mold of U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Vanceburg, or U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.
Kerr is an established name in the district after five terms in the Senate and an unsuccessful Congressional bid in 2004. She also comes from a prominent political family — her brother, Larry, was the Republican nominee for governor in 1995.
In recent years, Kerr has been a more moderate voice in the Kentucky Senate. She has repeatedly sponsored an unsuccessful bill to ban conversion therapy, a debunked practice that attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
When asked if he was too conservative for a district in Lexington, a city where Democrats have been increasing their vote margin in recent years, Cooperrider said his message of keeping government out of people’s lives would potentially have crossover appeal to people who think “the system is oppressive.”
“Obviously I don’t think so, or I wouldn’t be running,” Cooperrider said.
