Northern KY GOP lawmaker decries GOP’s “vitriolic infighting” after narrow primary win
After barely holding on to her seat in last week’s primary over a Liberty Republican, Northern Kentucky GOP Rep. Kim Moser said her party, increasingly divided, needs to “decide together on our philosophy” in order to rebuild trust among its supporters.
“The extremists are strategically pushing traditional conservative values out with hate and vitriolic infighting,” Moser told the Herald-Leader Tuesday, a week after Kentucky’s primary election.
Moser, a more moderate Republican, is seeking a fifth term after she defeated political newcomer Karen Campbell in Tuesday’s primary by 84 votes, or 2 percentage points, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s unofficial results.
Voter turnout statewide was just under 13%. In Kenton County, Moser’s district, it was 9.65%.
Campbell was one of several candidates who ran with the support of Liberty Republicans, a growing faction of conservative candidates, lawmakers and political groups intent on pushing policy and legislative leadership farther to the political right on various issues.
A realtor from Independence, Campbell called herself a “lifelong Republican patriot” and vowed to, if she had won her party’s nomination, “defend Constitutional liberties and be a voice against overreach of government mandates,” as well as protect “conservative traditional family values, the unborn, the Second Amendment and religious freedom.”
A handful of Liberty candidates won their primaries, and a few defeated establishment or more moderate incumbents with spending help from outside groups, including the Make Liberty Win political action committee and Conservatives for the Commonwealth Action.
In House District 45, part Fayette and Jessamine counties, incumbent Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Nicholasville, was trounced by Thomas Jefferson.
Both PACs printed dozens of mailers statewide favoring various Liberty candidates, including Campbell.
Criticizing Moser over her “no” vote on that bill, a mailer from Conservatives for the Commonwealth Action said she voted “against protecting children from radical transgender surgeries,” before calling her “one of the most liberal members of the Kentucky House.”
Other mailers from the same PAC called her a “fake conservative,” a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” a lawmaker who “supports drag shows in children’s classrooms,” and who “thinks you should be left vulnerable to armed thugs and rapists.”
Moser said she thinks part of the low turnout in her district was due to vitriol like this.
“I will stay involved because I care about the future of Kentucky, but these types of garbage campaigns affect our ability to get good, solution-oriented people to run and suppresses voter turnout, again, strategically disenfranchising citizens in the long run,” she said.
In a concession post to Facebook last week, Campbell said the close margins by which she lost “speaks volumes to the voices in our district!”
“I am forever grateful for every financial contribution and those who volunteered in our unified effort,” Campbell said before teasing a future run. “The great commonwealth of Kentucky and District 64 remain my focus and future goal. Looking forward to 2026!”
Moser raised more than $153,000 ahead of the primary and spent roughly $25,000, according to Kentucky Registry of Election Finance filings. Campbell raised close to $12,000 and spent roughly $5,000.
A former neonatal intensive care unit nurse and chair of the House Health and Family Services Committee, Moser has made public health-related policy a priority during her nearly eight years in office, bringing a more moderate voice within her party on some issues.
This most recent legislative session, Moser’s omnibus bill aimed at supporting new moms earned widespread bipartisan support and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Dubbed the “momnibus” bill and set to take effect later this summer, Moser’s bill will establish pregnancy as a “qualifying life event” to be covered by private insurance, as well as require Medicaid to cover the cost of lactation services and breast-feeding equipment.
The Northern Kentucky Republican also successfully passed House Bill 115 this session, a bi-partisan bill that removes out-of-pocket costs for follow-up diagnostic breast examinations. Moser said it was intended to help women detect breast cancer earlier.
While Moser has primarily voted with Republicans on largely partisan measures, like bills to restrict and ban abortion, she split with a majority of her party last year when she voted against a bill, now law, that outlaws all gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Moser was one of four Republicans in the House, including Timoney, who voted against Senate Bill 150.
She at the time called the bill “discriminatory” and said it eliminated parents’ ability to choose what’s best for their children. A trans-rights group sent out a mailer calling on conservatives to support Moser ahead of the primary.
Her “no” vote on Senate Bill 150 is one Campbell called out during an April candidate forum hosted by the Kenton County Republican Women’s Club and was the subject of multiple PAC-funded fliers backing Campbell.
Moser received an A rating from National Rifle Association and was endorsed by the Northern Kentucky Right to Life political action committee as well as Kentucky Right to Life.
The Kenton County incumbent will now face Democratic challenger Heather Crabbe in the November general election.
Crabbe, an attorney in Independence, got her start as a public defender before becoming assistant dean of Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law.
This story was originally published May 28, 2024 at 1:55 PM.
