An 80-1 longshot may have won this year’s Kentucky Derby, but underdogs in the state’s Republican primaries had no such luck Tuesday as incumbents swept past interparty rivals and onto likely reelection against Democratic opponents in November.
The primaries, which featured Kentucky’s first-ever “no excuses necessary” three-day early voting period, will present voters with this ballot in November:
This is Booker’s second run for the U.S. Senate. After being elected to the Kentucky House in 2018, he was narrowly defeated in 2020 by Amy McGrath in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary by less than 16,000 votes. McGrath went on to lose that race to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
Booker, with $3.4 million in campaign funding, spent little time or money on winning the prmary, instead directly targeting Paul and “his weathy alies” in anticipation of a November showdown.
Booker espouses a “Kentucky New Deal” that includes Medicare for All and a basic universal income. He will present voters with a clear clash of opposite ideologies in his race against Paul, a conservative free-trade champion with Libertarian leanings.
Paul, 59, an ophthalmologist and the son of former 10-term Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and was among Donald Trump’s 2016 GOP rivals before withdrawing from the race.
Paul, with more than $20 million in campaign contributions, enters the race a heavy favorite. Kentucky has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator in 30 years and is not likely to do so in November.
But the matchup features two entustiastic campaigners and loquacious orators from polar perspectives. The summer-long campaigns could prove more contentiously animated than ultimately competitive come fall.