Former state Rep. Jonathan Shell launches bid for KY agriculture commissioner
Former Republican state Rep. Jonathan Shell, a fifth-generation farmer from Garrard County, announced Wednesday he is running for state agriculture commissioner in 2023.
Shell, who was chairman of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2020 re-election campaign, said he has filed a letter of intent to run for the office and that Warren Beeler, who led the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy for both Govs. Matt Bevin and Andy Beshear, will serve as his campaign chairman.
“I’m optimistic about the future of Kentucky because of the hard-working men and women who make this Commonwealth great,” Shell said. “This campaign is about supporting farm families and ensuring that all Kentucky communities, from the most rural to the most urban, understand the importance of our agriculture industry.”
Shell, 34, said he will defend agriculture and conservative values. “This will be an aggressive campaign built on homegrown values I’ve learned on the family farm. I’m pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-growth and pro-farmer, and I live these values every day.”
Beeler said Shell “has the vision and the policy expertise to deliver” for all Kentuckians.
Shell was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2012. Before the 2016 state House elections, he was tapped by Republican leadership to spearhead candidate recruitment. He helped Kentucky elect its first Republican House majority in nearly 100 years.
The following year, Shell’s colleagues elected him the first Republican House majority leader. He was defeated by Travis Brenda, a teacher at Rockcastle County High School, in the 2018 Republican primary.
Shell is the owner of State Solutions LLC, which provides strategic and public policy advising for various statewide organizations. He also works on his family’s farm, Shell Farms and Greenhouses, in Garrard County, where they grow flowers, corn and pumpkins and raise cattle.
He and his wife, Brooke Shell, have four children.
Earlier this month, state Rep. Richard Heath, R-Mayfield, said he would be running for state agriculture commissioner in 2023.
Current Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, a Republican in his second term, is seriously considering a run for governor in 2023. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has said he will run for re-election.
Heath narrowly lost to Quarles in the 2015 GOP primary for agriculture commissioner. Heath said he got a late start in that campaign and wanted to get an early start this time.
