Midway voters offer widely varying reasons for their choices Tuesday, many contrary to party registration

By Kennedy Sabharwal and Grant Wheeler
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

As voters left the polls at Northside Elementary School before lingering clouds finally dispersed Tuesday, many were wrapped up in their winter coats ready to brave the cold weather. Asked how they voted, they had widely varying reasons for their votes in the race between Attorney General Andy Beshear, who carried Midway, and Gov. Matt Bevin.

Beshear and Bevin at their final debate, in Northern Kentucky Oct. 29

The election turned out to be a referendum on the governor and his personality, and even his supporters acknowledged his problems. “I don’t always agree with what he says but I agree with enough,” said Candace Barnes, 60.

Ben Patton, 22, said he “voted for Beshear because I want to be a teacher, and also want to have a pension.” His friend Isaac Hamilton, 21, said likewise: “I also plan on being an educator.”

Some voters spoke only with the guarantee of anonymity, A 72-year-old registered nurse said she voted for Bevin in 2015, but today “I voted for Beshear because I am a retired teacher.” Beshear credited teachers' activism for his victory.

Though she is a registered Democrat, the woman said she voted for Republican Daniel Cameron over Greg Stumbo for attorney general because “My husband knows Stumbo, because he was a lobbyist, and we know he is not very honest, and I just would like to see a young black man in office.”

She said she voted for Heather French Henry for secretary of state “because I have met her personally and she is a woman of dignity and honesty.” Henry won Midway but lost the county and state; Stumbo carried the city precinct but lost the rural one, the county and the state.

A registered independent who is a marketer said, “I voted for Beshear because I don’t like Bevin and what he has done and how he has treated teachers.”

The woman said that her vote for attorney general was somewhat influenced by President Trump, but to the contrary; she said she voted for Stumbo because Trump supported Cameron.

Several said they voted contrary to their party registration. A 68-year-old retired City of Frankfort employee said he is a registered Democrat, but “believe it or not, I voted Republican all the way. … They fuss about Bevin causin’ so much trouble, but sometimes you gotta stir it up.”

His wife, a 69-year-old retired state worker, said she also voted to re-elect Bevin “because he is trying to straighten things out.”

On the other hand, a 25-year-old man who manages a restaurant in Woodford County said he used to be a registered Republican but became a Democrat because his thoughts aligned more with the Democratic Party and “I voted straight Democrat.”

A man in his 30s said he voted for Democrat Jack Conway against Bevin in 2015, but was for Bevin this time. “I’m in the horse industry,” he explained. “Bevin has hired people that he knows that know the business.” The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has allowed "instant racing," a form of betting that closely resembles slot machines.

Beshear wants to raise revenue by expanding gambling further, which worries the voter. “The sitting governor has the ability to do away with instant racing,” he said. “Once you do free-standing casinos, the horsemen and the farm stuff get none of that funding” from the state.

The man said he likes Bevin's frankness, likening it to the approach of President Trump, but for some other voters, Trump was a negative.

A 74-year-old Democrat from Midway said she voted for Beshear, called Bevin “mean and thoughtless” and added, “Trump's been in the picture for him; we are Kentucky; it’s about us.”

A 51-year-old registered nurse Bevin's ties to Trump made her “far less likely to vote for him.” She and a University of Kentucky student said they voted for Beshear “He’s screwing over teachers, and I want to be a music teacher eventually,” the student said. “I don’t like his personality or his policies and I want him out.”

On the other hand, a 73-year-old man said he likes Bevin because he is “straightforward and has the guts to say somethin’ like how we shouldn’t have sanctuary cities.” Kentucky has no such cities, Beshear cited that in saying that he saw no need for a law banning them.

The man said voted straight Republican. “What the left says, which is primarily Democratic, is not feasible,” he said. “Everything they say is just an attempt to get votes.”

Information for this story was also gathered by UK journalism student Garrett Burton.

Midway area favors Beshear over Bevin, and Henry over Adams; city voters favor Stumbo over Cameron

By Al Cross and Garrett Burton
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

Midway voters favored Attorney General Andy Beshear for governor and all but one other Democrat for statewide office in Tuesday's election. Those in the rural Midway precinct, which includes some areas near Versailles, supported Beshear and one other Democrat but otherwise voted Republican.

Beshear precincts in blue, Bevin in red

Beshear won the city precinct with 494 votes, 54 percent of the total, to 252 for Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and 15 for John Hicks, who ran a very limited campaign on the Libertarian ticket. In the rural precinct, Beshear won 283 to 226 to 15. He carried Woodford County with 6,235 votes, 53.1% of the total, to Bevin's 5,277 and Hicks' 227. Bevin carried the county by 100 votes in 2015.

Voters interviewed at the polls, who generally declined to give their names, had more to say about Bevin than about Beshear. A woman in her 30s said she voted against Bevin “mainly because he is so disrespectful to many people on many levels, and I don’t like that representing Kentucky.”

A Republican in his 30s said he voted for Beshear, and Democrat Jack Conway in 2015. “Mostly, I don’t care for Bevin,” he said. “There’s definitely a personality component to it, but I disagree with a lot of the policy decisions.”

On the other hand, a 72-year-old Democrat said he voted for Bevin because “I believe he is a better person” and things overall have been going well for the state.

Bevin was the only Republican to lose a partisan race in Kentucky on Tuesday. Woodford voters favored Democrat Heather French Henry for secretary of state, 6,067 (51.9%) to 5,622 for statewide winner Michael Adams. Henry carried the county by the same percentage, 6,067 to 5,622. She won the city precinct 485 to 273 and the rural precinct 282 to 239.

Republican candidates Daniel Cameron and Ryan Quarles
campaigned in the Foothills Festival parade in Albany Oct. 18.

In other races, Woodford voters favored Republicans. However, in the race for attorney general in the Midway city precinct, Democrat Greg Stumbo ran ahead of countywide and statewide winner Daniel Cameron, getting 434 votes to Cameron's 312. Cameron won the rural Midway precinct 270 to 248.

City voters also favored Sheri Donahue over state Auditor Mike Harmon, 416 to 302, and Michael Bowman over state Treasurer Allison Ball, 384 to 358. The Republican incumbents won the rural precinct, Harmon getting 52% and Ball 59%. Ball got the most votes of any statewide candidate.

The partisan allegiances of the two precincts were further indicated by the number of voters who cast straight-ticket ballots. In the city, straight-party voting was 232 Democratic, 159 Republican and 4 Libertarian. In the rural precinct, it was 129 Republican, 120 Democratic and 3 Libertarian.

Robert Haley Conway

The sole Republican winner in the city was Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who defeated fellow Georgetown resident Robert Haley Conway, who attends Midway Presbyterian Church. It was close; Quarles won the city precinct with 382 votes to 348 for Conway and 16 for Libertarian Josh Gilpin. Quarles won the county precinct 340 to 174 to 6. The countywide results were Quarles 7,158 (61.8%), Conway 4,106 (35.46%) and Gilpin 316 (2.7%). Statewide, Quarles won 58.2% to 38.6%.

Turnout in the election was much higher than expected: 42 percent statewide and 54.6 percent in Woodford. Asked why, Midway precinct officer Helen Rentch said, "Competiton." The governor's race was known to be close (Beshear won by fewer than 5,000 votes in unofficial returns) and both sides mounted major efforts to get out the vote. Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said turnout in the city precinct was 56 percent.

Attorney general says city budget becomes public when the mayor gives it to the city council

Ruling in a case originated by the Midway Messenger, the state attorney general's office has ruled that a proposed city budget becomes public once a mayor submits it to the city's legislative body. But unless the City of Midway forgoes an appeal and releases its proposed budget for the year beginning July 1, the decision will not affect that document.

The Messenger first requested the proposed 2010-11 budget after Mayor Tom Bozarth gave it to at least some City Council members, those on the Finance Committee, which discussed the budget peripherally at a meeting in April. Bozarth declined to release the document at that meeting, saying the state Open Records Act exempted proposed budgets from disclosure.

Kentucky Citizens for Open Government, through Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson, appealed to the attorney general, adopting the Messenger's argument that a document should become public once discussed at a public meeting of a public agency. Attorney General Jack Conway did not accept that argument, but did rule that once a mayor proposes a budget to a council, it becomes public.

"The proposed budget must be made accessible to the public when it is submitted to the City Council pursuant to KRS 91A.030(7) because it constitutes statutorily required final action of a public agency, in this case, the Mayor of the City of Midway," the decision said. "At this juncture, the budget forfeits the preliminary character it enjoyed while it was in preparation and is no longer a draft," one exemption in the law. For a copy of the decision in PDF format, click here.

The decision overruled decisions made under then-Attorney General Ben Chandler in 1996 and 2000. However, it may not have immediate effect, because it does not gain the force of law until the 30-day appeal period has run. Bozarth told the Messenger today that he and City Attorney Phil Moloney "will discuss what we are going to do over the next few days." The council is scheduled to adopt the budget on second at its next regular meeting on June 7. The appeal period ends June 19.