How Kentucky Could Elect a President

Kentucky is better known for breeding fillies than presidents. Yet the winner of the governor’s race here Tuesday could very well be on the national ticket in a future election.

With the two presidential primaries dominated by a current and former president, and much of the next-generation talent in both parties sitting out the race, the future may be more easily glimpsed from the bluegrass than the cornfields this fall.

If Gov. Andy Beshear prevails, he may become one of only two Democratic governors left in the South next year. A former state attorney general and the son of a governor, Beshear, 45, is also the only independently elected statewide Democrat left in Kentucky.

Should Attorney General Daniel Cameron win, he’d be the first Black Republican governor since Reconstruction. At only 37, Cameron would immediately become a national player and, with ties to both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump, could help navigate whatever the GOP becomes after both party avatars leave the scene.