In tense KET debate, Beshear, Cameron spar over Trump, school vouchers and abortion
Kentucky’s candidates for governor got into the granular details of working with the legislature, pandemic response, school vouchers and more during KET’s Kentucky Tonight debate Monday night.
In their most tense meeting yet, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron skirmished for 60 minutes, often directly calling on, speaking over and questioning one another.
Monday’s match-up, moderated by KET’s Renee Shaw, was the fourth meeting of the candidates on the debate stage in less that two weeks’ time, and one more debate between the two is set for Tuesday night.
Additionally, the candidates’ running mates — Lt. Gov. Jacquelyn Coleman and State Sen. Robby Mills — will debate Oct. 30 at 8 p.m.
Beshear sought to paint Cameron as an extreme partisan who refuses to answer even basic direct questions. In turn, Cameron cast Beshear as a leader who refuses to take accountability for problems and claims credit where he hasn’t earned it.
Here are highlights from:
On working with legislators
Shaw opted to skip the opening statements and went straight to questioning the candidates, beginning with Beshear and his relationship with the GOP-dominated General Assembly.
“There’s been a lot made about the lack of communication that you have with legislative leaders over your time as governor, the first term, and 2022, as you know, House Republicans filed their proposed budget, two, three days before you unveiled your budget recommendations,” Shaw said.
“How effectively can you govern in the next four years if you are re-elected given those political tensions?”
Beshear touted that he’s signed 627 bipartisan bills into law and said he and his team work well behind the scenes.
“It’s just, in politics what happens out front is often not what you see behind closed doors,” Beshear said. “Again, what you see at the forefront, that makes the news is the dramatic, but the hard work happens and we get the job done.”
Shaw asked Cameron how he’d assert his own leadership if elected and not “merely serve as a rubber stamp to the actions on the third floor,” where the House of Representatives and Senate chambers are located.
“I’m willing to do whatever is necessary for the people here of the commonwealth, but I think most people would agree that it’s better to have everyone rowing in the same direction. ... This is about making sure that we have leadership in this state that reflects your values.”
On Donald Trump and Jan. 6
Donald Trump, the former Republican president and current front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, came up frequently in the debate.
First, Shaw directed a question at Cameron on whether he thought Trump deserved blame for the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated. Cameron is seen as a mentee of Kentucky’s senior senator and previously worked for the Republican McConnell as his legal counsel.
Cameron did not answer the question directly, stating only he was “proud” to be endorsed by Trump. Instead, he pivoted to criticizing Beshear for a commercial that ties the Democratic governor to Trump by touting support from a Trump voter.
“President Trump is such a big deal in this race that Andy Beshear ran a campaign ad trying to tout some relationship between him and Donald Trump,” Cameron said.
Beshear, in response, justified the decision by stating that a governor “can’t be hyper-partisan” and that “my opponent constantly tries to make you think that this race is somehow about who’s running for president.”
After the debate, Cameron would not say whether his campaign was working to get Trump to appear in Kentucky to support his candidacy, as former GOP governor Matt Bevin did.
Cameron did say, though, that he’d be “grateful for President Trump to come in” and welcomed any Republican governor to do the same.
On school vouchers
Beshear repeated a strategy from the last debate Saturday, using his time to directly question Cameron himself, this time on school vouchers, which some GOP lawmakers have named a legislative priority in 2024.
Beshear has maintained that he is vehemently opposed to “any voucher program,” whereas Cameron would use them to funnel millions of dollars into private schools.
Cameron has previously quipped that Beshear needs to be the first to enroll in the “Cameron Catch-Up Plan” because he misrepresented what the educational framework includes.
“Daniel Cameron’s approach to education includes vouchers,” Beshear said, as Cameron interjected. Such support would take “tens, if not hundreds, of million dollars away from public education and send it to fancy private schools.
Now, he’ll try to tell you it’s not in his enumerated plan. But out on the campaign trail, he said this race is about vouchers and you can just ask him directly.”
“Well, let’s just ask him directly: Do you support vouchers, General Cameron?” Shaw asked.
Cameron said he’s always supported “catching up our kids.”
“Is one of those options school vouchers and scholarship tax credits?” Shaw interjected.
“We’ve seen Andy Beshear’s education plan, and it’s a plan that shut down our schools for for nearly two years,” Cameron said.
“But you would be for school vouchers?” Shaw asked again.
“No, I will support, primarily, our public school system,” Cameron said. “Look, we need to make sure that we expand opportunity and choice...”
“That’s three times you’ve asked the question,” Beshear said.
Different tones
Compared to previous debates, Cameron came across as more even-keeled and Beshear played the aggressor more often. These strategies played to both candidates’ benefit in certain moments.
In response to Beshear’s claims, Cameron often spoke directly and calmly to the camera, telling viewers that the governor was misleading them. In one of those moments, he referenced the famous Eagles song “Lyin’ Eyes.”
“Andy Beshear is lying to you nightly on the television during these debates,” Cameron said. “The fact of the matter is, the economy is not doing well. You know at home because you’re having to work two or three jobs. You know it at home because when you got the grocery store your bill is more, your gas is more, your utility bills are more.”
Beshear, on the other hand, frequently challenged Cameron to answer “yes” or “no” on questions that merited such an answer. The school vouchers exchange was an example of that, as well as the well-worn topic of exceptions for rape or incest to the state’s ban on abortion.
As has been the case in previous debates, despite the attorney general’s previous support for the trigger ban, Cameron said he’d sign a bill adding such exceptions to the law.
However, he didn’t say whether he personally supported the provision when asked.
“My opponent has been asked nine times and he’s refused to look in the camera and answer it once. You deserve a governor who will level with you, so here let me show him how to do it: I believe that victims of rape and incest deserve options,” Beshear said. “... Daniel Cameron won’t answer the question because he’s already shown you what the answer is.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2023 at 10:16 PM.
