Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, finds himself in a tight reelection battle going into the final days of his campaign.
That could signal a tough reelection fight for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a former rival of the governor, in 2020.
According to the RealClearPolitics average, Bevin is neck and neck with his Democratic challenger, the state’s Attorney General Andy Beshear, and a Morning Consult survey shows a 53% disapproval rating for the governor in a state where President Trump is incredibly popular among GOP primary voters.
But Bevin has brushed aside those poll numbers, saying he feels more momentum as his campaign heads to the finish line.
“They’re all the opinion of whoever puts the poll out. What matters is, is our state doing better?” he said to WLWT.
Trump, who the same poll shows has a 56% approval rating in the state, has tweeted his support for Bevin several times, pointing to Bevin’s support of gun rights and Trump’s border wall.
“Governor @MattBevin has done a wonderful job for the people of Kentucky!” he wrote on the social media platform. “Matt has my Complete and Total Endorsement, and always has!”
….Matt has my Complete and Total Endorsement, and always has. GET OUT and VOTE on November 5th for your GREAT Governor, @MattBevin!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019
In what could be described as a Trump-style attack, Bevin went after Beshear as privileged, corrupt, and “the Hunter Biden of the Bluegrass.”
Beshear, who is also the son of Bevin’s predecessor, took aim back.
“That’s not the way a governor should talk or behave. Aren’t we ready for more decency? Aren’t we ready for a governor that doesn’t spend every day attacking people?” he said.
Trump is headed to Lexington today to hold a rally in support of Bevin’s campaign, hoping to energize the party base on the eve of the general election to carry the Republican governor over the finish line Tuesday.
It’s one of several rallies Trump has held ahead of Tuesday’s election to help energize the base for Republican governors in an off year. Last month, Trump traveled to Louisiana to rally Republicans to vote to keep Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards from breaking a 50% threshold, thereby forcing a runoff this month against Republican challenger Eddie Rispone.
Should Trump’s preelection day rally help Bevin, McConnell is likely to look to Trump for help in the state as well.
The Senate majority leader, who has represented Kentucky in the upper chamber since 1985, is nearly just as unpopular as Bevin, with a disapproval rating of 50% in the same Morning Consult poll.
His challenger, Amy McGrath, who announced her campaign in July, managed to raise $10.7 million in the third quarter. But McGrath faces an uphill battle when it comes to convincing the state’s more conservative electorate that she should replace McConnell given her more liberal political views.
McConnell’s campaign, though, seems unconcerned about any comparisons to Bevin’s.
“Leader McConnell and our campaign have been focused on making sure that Governor Bevin, [nominee for state attorney general] Daniel Cameron and the rest of the Republican ticket are successful on election night,” McConnell’s campaign manager Kevin Golden said in a statement to Roll Call.
