KSR Republican debate: Craft’s first performance, Cameron’s absence and other takeaways
There was an empty seat on Kentucky Sports Radio’s debate stage Wednesday, and host Matt Jones made it known.
The discussion, broadcast live from the former Hard Rock Cafe location in downtown Louisville by Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR), was supposed to be the first in which five leading Republicans candidates for Kentucky governor — Attorney General Daniel Cameron, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles, Auditor Mike Harmon and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck — shared the debate stage.
But that was before Cameron, who leads all 11 of his GOP opponents in the polls, backed out, citing conflicts with campaign and official events scheduled for the same time in Eastern Kentucky.
Jones, an outspoken Democrat, has lambasted Cameron’s reversal on social media and his popular radio show, and took a few jabs during the debate, too. KSR gave Cameron a chair and nameplate on stage despite him not attending.
“’The other candidates talk about fentanyl and doing something, but unlike them, I’m actually doing something about it and not talking about it,’” Jones quoted Cameron as saying about his absence.
For the second question of the debate, Jones followed up by asking: “Do you agree with Mr. Cameron and do you think he has been a good attorney general?”
All four candidates agreed Cameron should have been there, but Craft, who has centered much of her campaign messaging around the “empty seat” at family tables caused by substance abuse, answered first — and most critically. The latest independent poll shows Craft closing in on Cameron’s lead.
“What does Daniel have to say to Kentuckians around this state that are feeling the pain today of that empty chair?” Craft asked. “Whether that individual is not with them, whether they’ve run away from home, whether they are incarcerated, whether in rehab.”
While Cameron’s empty seat was kept front and center on stage, Jones and the candidates covered plenty of other ground in the roughly 80-minute debate. Here’s a rundown of other moves made, important questions answered and other notable moments.
Craft’s first debate performance
While Craft has appeared at local Lincoln Day dinners and community events across the commonwealth, KSR was her first debate of the primary season.
Craft stuck to her established campaign messaging: taking “wokeism” out of schools, “dismantling” the Kentucky Department of Education and fighting against drug addiction.
To drive home her anti-woke point, Craft held up a copy of “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir by a LGBTQ writer and activist.
“This book — which you can’t read from this book on radio and TV because of FCC violations — but this book is recommended for children, our children and our grandchildren, 14 years and older,” Craft said. “This is what I call woke.”
“What is the name of it for people on the radio?” Jones asked, subtly reminding Craft of on-air listeners.
Craft also brought with her Rhonda Hatfield, a mother from Fisherville whose child died of an overdose. Craft promised she would push for the death penalty for any drug dealer who could be connected to an overdose death.
“If you are a trafficker or you are a member of the cartel, if you come into our state, you probably will never leave because if you hurt, harm, caused the death of a Kentuckian, I can’t wait to sign your death warrant,” Craft said.
Jones grills Quarles on abortion
As a moderator, Jones was pointed and aggressive with his follow-up questions and demanding clear answers from candidates. But some of his most dogged questioning was focused on Quarles, especially surrounding abortion.
In the second half of the debate, Jones questioned each candidate on issues and positions specific to them. For Quarles, that meant asking about his stance on abortion.
“I think I have read that you are for no exceptions for abortion at all. Is that correct?” Jones asked.
“I value all life,” Quarles said. “I’ve met somebody who was conceived through rape and I value that person’s life just as much as anyone else.”
Jones followed up by asking Quarles a hypothetical: What if a juvenile rape victim became pregnant through rape or incest?
“Matt, I value all life,” Quarles responded.
Jones again followed up, asking about a recent court ruling on mifepristone, a pill that induces abortion. Would Quarles want that banned in Kentucky?
“I think it’s important that we value all life in Kentucky,” Quarles said.
The exchange stood in contrast to a few minutes earlier when Jones asked Craft to help him “understand what Critical Race Theory even is” and allowed her definition to go unchecked.
“When you are having two children and you are having them to compete with one another because of color, or you having them have their differences because of color,” Craft said.
“And you think that’s happening?” Jones asked.
“I know it’s happening,” Craft said.
Critical Race Theory — a phrase that originally referred to an academic framework but is now used by conservatives to refer to the idea that being white is inherently bad, among other things — has become a frequent Republican target.
Craft and Jones are friends, and Jones has admitted as much on his radio show, saying he’s also been friendly with Quarles and Cameron.
“Ultimately, I can be fair no matter what,” Jones said on his show last week.
Identifying as a cat?
So-called “wokeness” in education and Kentucky Commissioner of Education Jason Glass were also frequent topics of the KSR debate, and prompted one of the more bizarre exchanges of the day.
Harmon said Glass was “woke” and responsible for an agenda of “someone wants to be called different something than they were.” Harmon was addressing the ongoing debate around the use of student pronouns in schools, which proved to be one of the main issues of the 2023 General Assembly.
“I have one of the family members that I knew ... said that her daughter actually got in trouble because she wouldn’t acknowledge that someone was a cat,” Harmon said.
“Where was that?” Jones asked.
“That was over in Eastern Kentucky,” Harmon said.
“Do you know what district?” Jones asked.
“I can’t remember the school district specifically,” Harmon replied.
Harmon’s claim echoed that of a debunked myth that schools were providing litterboxes for students who identify as cats. An October report from MSNBC found more than 20 Republican politicians had repeated the false claim.
Keck softer on “woke”
Relative to Craft, Keck shied away from emphasizing “wokeness” when asked if he thinks it’s present in Kentucky schools.
“Painting with a broad brush puts a lot of people in a bubble they might not belong to and it doesn’t move the conversation forward… If, as a party, we consistently demonize public education then we’re going to struggle to win a general election. We saw what happened in the last race,” Keck said.
As Quarles did at times, Keck tried to steer away from nationalizing the conversation and towards the particular. He mentioned the “incredible” teachers his three daughters have had in public school.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 4:12 PM.
