With 100 days until Kentuckians, Mississippians, Louisianians, and Virginians head to the polls to vote for governor and a number of down ballot races, GOP candidates across the country are finding themselves steeped in controversy. Read more below about the top issues dominating the biggest races of the 2023 cycle.
On Kentucky:
Daniel Cameron, in both Democratic and Republican polling, finds himself being whole heartedly rejected by Kentucky voters. This comes as little surprise when you look at what Cameron has been campaigning on and the number of controversies he’s courted through the campaign so far:
- Cameron is campaigning on an extreme anti-abortion agenda. Beyond bragging about defending the state’s near total abortion ban, Cameron is now trying to track Kentuckians who want to leave the state to get an abortion — and has all but said he will use his powers as Attorney General to prosecute them.
- Cameron continues to campaign on adopting former Governor Matt Bevin’s disastrous plan to gut Medicaid, which could jeopardize health care for 136,000 Kentuckians and cost the state $270 million.
- A deep investigation shows that Cameron might not be showing up to work as Attorney General as he hasn’t swiped into his office since the beginning of 2020. Instead of his office explaining the records, they continuously refused to give a clear answer if Cameron is in fact showing up for work.
- Cameron sought and accepted donations from a company his office is supposed to be investigating — and only gave the money back after he was caught.
- Cameron’s floundering campaign has been compounded by the problem that his opponent, who is one of the most popular incumbents in the country, is racking up endorsements from law enforcement and the coal industry.
On Mississippi:
Tate Reeves, who has some of the highest disapproval ratings of any sitting governor, has been plagued by scandal after scandal (including trying to build a road from his mansion to a mall) and is single handedly seeing Mississippi’s hospital system fall apart.
- In the last month, an expose detailed how Tate Reeves has built a $1.4 million donor network that he has rewarded with cushy political appointments.
- Reeves has also been bogged down by the infamous Brett Favre TANF scandal and has refused to return donations from perpetrators of the scandal.
- Reeves, who refused to expand Medicaid, has allowed hospital after hospital to close on his watch. This has been particularly devastating in rural Mississippi. All of this has happened as Reeves has given cushy handouts to mega donors who run a private hospital.
On Louisiana:
Attorney General Jeff Landry is the current frontrunner in Louisiana’s jungle primary, which he has solidified by running on an extreme agenda and using his office for partisan gain.
- Landry has weaponized the state’s criminal justice system to target Black Louisianans, including defending a Jim Crow era law that made it easier to put Black people in jail.
- Landry has an abhorrent record of defending the death penalty, including saying he would oppose every application for appealing the death penalty.
- When he isn’t campaigning Jeff Landry is an abysmal attorney general, losing eight of the 11 cases he’s opposed in court so far.
*Don’t sleep on the Virginia Legislative Races*
The Virginia Senate could flip Red and essentially give Gov. Glenn Youngkin a free pass on implementing his extreme agenda. June primary results showed that abortion rights will be a top issue, which has shown to be a losing one for the GOP. Primary election spending and Virginia’s campaign finance laws are setting up big money races that will come to a head in November.
Published: Jul 29, 2023 | Last Modified: Aug 8, 2023