Tuesday’s Red, White, and Blue Picnic gave political candidates one last chance to sway voters from the local area before Tuesday’s general election. Around 300 residents were present to hear candidates speak on important topics as they listened from chairs on the Daviess County Courthouse lawn.
Each candidate was given five minutes to speak about their platform.
Out of 12 state-level candidates running for election or reelection in the Nov. 5 election, nine were present for Tuesday’s Red, White, and Blue event. The big-ticket race is for governor, but neither Matt Bevin or Andy Beshear attended Tuesday’s event.
So their running mates did the talking.
Democratic candidate Jacqueline Coleman and Republican candidate Ralph A. Alvarado discussed the state’s future successes, though each candidate approached the topic differently.
“As the only teacher in this race, and also the only student in this race, public education is the challenge of our lifetime,” Coleman said. “Every single challenge we face in this Commonwealth, our teachers face in their classrooms every single day.”
Coleman, who has worked alongside Beshear in combating the opioid crisis and providing affordable healthcare, said improving Kentucky’s public education was one of the biggest challenges facing the state. The system’s successes and failures would very likely determine the outcome of the Commonwealth’s successes and failures.
“We have to have a government that commits to building a world-class public education system for our Kentuckians,” she said. “[Andy Beshear] is the reason my family still has our retirement, because he fought that sewer bill, and that takes guts. As you prepare to vote on Tuesday, don’t think about the [candidates] up here. Think about how your family will be impacted.”
Alvarado said Kentucky had enormous potential and that he wanted to see it continue to grow.
“All of us here are proud of being Kentuckians. We know the potential of this state, and we’re, frankly, also tired of watching what the national pundits view our state as — something completely different,” he said.
Alvarado said many in Kentucky have wondered why states such as Indiana and Tennessee have passed Kentucky in growth and population.
“For 95 years we had very bad liberal policies in this state that led to that problem,” he said. “I think Kentuckians have sensed that bad policy for a very long time and, four years ago, we voted for some changes in this state. We voted for a republican by the name of Matt Bevin, and we’ve been better off for it. You can look at the results — 57,000 new jobs have been created, $22 billion in capital investment. We’ve got the lowest unemployment we’ve ever had — the highest workforce participation. We’ve been able to reduce the size of government, and we’re just getting started.”
Incumbent Mike Harmon said his job as state auditor wasn’t to target anyone or give out free passes but to simply “follow the data.”
“Data is non-partisan, so I think it’s important for the auditor to be as well,” he said. “We did the very first audit of the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation program fund to ensure the tax dollars that are intended for law enforcement actually end up with law enforcement.”
State Treasurer Incumbent Allison Ball was present to speak, though opponent Michael Bowman was not. Ball’s speech focused on the importance of ethics and transparency in her position.
“I’ve been the watchdog of your taxpayer dollars,” she told the crowd. “My job as state treasurer is to make sure whatever comes out of my office is legal, is constitutional and is correct. I’ve done that while I’ve been in office.”
Candidate Robert Haley Conway wasn’t present for Tuesday’s gathering, but Commissioner of Agriculture Incumbent Ryan Quarles talked about his efforts in supporting and expanding Kentucky’s industrial hemp program.
“We’re beginning to thrive again,” he said of the state’s hemp industry. “We’re employing 1,000 people — that’s 1,000 jobs that didn’t exist before. We will exceed $100 million in 2019, and that’s all coming from Kentucky farms.”
Republican Secretary of State candidate Michael Adams was the first speaker to take a dig at his opponent, Heather French Henry, as he detailed the ongoing federal case against current Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, whose father was found guilty in September for illegally funneling contributions to his daughter’s 2014 campaign against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Henry, meanwhile, spoke about working to better the lives of veterans, including homelessness, health care, disabilities and benefits for vets across Kentucky and the United States. She also referred to her ability to be non-partisan, as she worked under Governor Matt Bevin and Governor Steve Beshear without politics influencing her work.
Henry said Bevin personally asked her to stay in her role as commissioner when he was elected to office.
“As the only one who’s led a state department in this race, I’m proud that we worked with the Secretary of State’s office to create new polling location in our veterans’ nursing homes, being able to bring easier access to our state’s heroes.”
The Red, White and Blue Picnic was hosted by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Big Rivers Electric Corporation.
