With Cameron aiming for governor, who will be AG? Former US Attorney says he’s running
Attorney General Daniel Cameron made waves on Wednesday when he announced a bid for governor in 2023.
But it begged the question: Who will replace him?
One candidate, a friend of Cameron’s who was U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, launched a run for the state’s top law enforcement office Thursday morning on the heels of Cameron’s announcement.
Republican Russell Coleman served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky from 2017 to 2021.
Thus far, Coleman is the first and only candidate to announce a bid for the office. There may be more, though.
Secretary of State Michael Adams said on Wednesday that he will consider a run for Attorney General as well as a reelection bid. Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, an attorney who was previously director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, told the Herald-Leader that he was talking with people about a potential run and that he’d make a decision on it by the end of May.
Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, was the Republican nominee for attorney general in 2015, narrowly losing to Gov. Andy Beshear, and later withdrew his name from the GOP slate in 2019. He told the Herald-Leader that he hasn’t ruled out a 2023 run.
Wil Schroder, a Republican Senator from Northern Kentucky who declined to seek reelection this year after two terms, fell to Cameron in the 2019 primary race. He did not respond to a request for comment on whether or not he was considering a run this year.
Coleman, meanwhile, has never run for public office.
A press release introducing Coleman as a candidate for the office emphasized at the very opening that he was former president Donald Trump’s “handpicked federal prosecutor.” He also described himself as a “A pro-life, pro-family candidate who will always Back the Blue.”
“My priority is the same as President Trump’s: Make America Safe Again by stopping the people who are poisoning our communities with deadly drugs and using technology to target our kids, parents and grandparents,” Coleman said in the release. “As Attorney General, I will never stop working to protect our families, uphold our conservative values, and protect our Constitutional freedoms. My plan is to build a safer Commonwealth for everyone, from the big cities to the small towns of Kentucky.”
Coleman is a Western Kentucky native. He worked as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before suffering a spinal injury that left one of his legs partially paralyzed. Like Cameron, Coleman served as legal counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell and worked at the Louisville law firm Frost Brown Todd, where he is currently a partner.
As U.S. Attorney, Coleman said that he focused on meeting with local law enforcement and officials from all 53 counties he covered, opening the first-ever U.S. Attorney’s office in Bowling Green and prosecuting violent offenders, among other things.
He said that primary goals as Attorney General would be beefing up special prosecution capacity, combating child exploitation in the state and working to stem the rising tide of overdose deaths from heroin and fentanyl. He also spoke highly of Cameron’s tenure in the office.
Coleman also said that he would be open to challenging actions by either the legislature or fellow members of the executive branch if he felt that a violation of the constitution or statute occurred.
Would Coleman defend Kentucky’s “trigger law,” which would effectively end abortion access in Kentucky, if it’s challenged? He said he would “stand ready” to enforce it.
“I want to differentiate enforcing the law for my personal beliefs. I am a pro-life conservative Republican and I feel very strongly about that. Part of what drives my membership in the Republican Party is a belief in a pro life agenda and protecting the unborn, but I differentiate that from that role of the AG. I would have a duty to enforce what the General Assembly passed in 2019 and we would do so robustly.”
In his release, Coleman rolled out a number of endorsements from figures in the political and law enforcement world. They included Jim Carroll, who was the country’s drug czar for much of the Trump presidency; various local officials across Western Kentucky; 13 commonwealth’s and county attorneys; and 25 Kentucky sheriffs and chiefs of police, among others.
When asked about the potential field for attorney general, Coleman repeated a phrase that agriculture commissioner and GOP candidate for governor Ryan Quarles used: iron sharpens iron.
“I’m excited about the embarrassment of riches we have of leaders that have announced so far and that may announce,” Coleman said. “We just have a tremendous amount of talent at the top of the ticket. I view this as healthy, as a product of the maturing GOP in the Commonwealth.”
