Kentucky GOP gubernatorial candidate Hal Heiner
There are ugly races, and there's the May 19 Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary.
This contest dove into the gutter last week, when we learned that a blogger named Michael Adams was accusing Agriculture Commissioner James Comer of abusing his girlfriend back in college, something Comer vigorously denied. Adams was in communication with primary rival Hal Heiner's campaign, and Heiner apologized for any role his team had played in spreading unfounded rumors. But on Monday night, Marilyn Thomas, who Comer says he dated for four months when they attended Western Kentucky University, came forward and told the Courier Journal that the candidate had in fact abused her, and taken her to get an abortion.
Comer has once again denied that he ever harmed Thomas, and he is now accusing Heiner's campaign of paying her to lie. However, Comer acknowledges he has no proof of this. Thomas is insisting she's telling the truth, and her mother and college roommate confirm what she says (Comer's old roommate says he never saw any abuse). Thomas also says she has documentation that she had an abortion in the early 1990s but the paper is in a bank she doesn't have immediate access to. Comer continues to insist that her story isn't true and is challenging her to produce the document.
To make things even messier, Adams is being investigated over claims that he threatened the children of Comer's running mate state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders wouldn't say much about how things are progressing, but says that the Comer campaign has provided "voluminous documentation" about the situation.
A third candidate, tea partying businessman Matt Bevin, has managed to stay out of this whole mess, and he may be able to benefit if he stays unscathed. But Heiner's allies have been running ads against Bevin, accusing him of inflating his resume and taking bailout funds. Bevin challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell is the 2014 primary and his team is still angry, but it's unclear what, if anything, they'll actually do to stop him. There's one remaining candidate, former state Supreme Court Justice Will Scott. Scott has raised little money no one has spent any real resources helping him or attacking him. If Things get messy enough it's possible Scott could do better than expected, but he doesn't seem to be strong enough to emerge as the last man standing.
Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway has no real competition in his primary, and he can't be displeased as his potential opponents nuke each other. Team Blue is going to need to work hard to hold this seat this fall, but the GOP seems to be doing everything they can to make it easier.