Judge Shuts Bevin Down Again 2019
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin with President Donald Trump at the White House in 2018 Ron Sachs/CNP/Zuma
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Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has spent the past iv years interim like a mini Donald Trump, a politician decumbent to social media outbursts analytical his ideological opponents in the most flatulent fashion. And just a few weeks out from Election Twenty-four hours, it's a toss upwardly among voters on whether Bevin deserves a second term.
A new poll from Stonemason-Dixon Polling & Strategy found that voters were evenly between Bevin and his Democratic opponent, current Attorney General Andy Beshear. Every bit the Courier-Journal points out, the poll actually represented a slight improvement for Bevin; his approval among state voters has increased to 45 percent, upwardly from 38 percent when Mason-Dixon last looked at the race in Dec. (Morning time Consult, another polling company, has consistently establish that Bevin is the least popular governor in the land.)
As I wrote in our September/October issue, Bevin's reelection should, in theory, be a cinch. He'south running in a deep-red state where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 30 percent; Republicans hold both US Senate seats, and Democrats represent just ane of the country's half-dozen House districts. And Bevin has done everything to cozy up to Trump, with the president returning that love with a re-endorsement tweet on Tuesday.
Governor @MattBevin has done a wonderful chore for the people of Kentucky! He continues to protect your very important Second Amendment. Matt is Strong on Criminal offence and the Edge, he Loves our Corking Vets and Military. Matt has my Complete and Total Endorsement, and ever has!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2019
But Kentucky voters don't seem to appreciate having a Trump-style governor. As Al Cross, a longtime political reporter in the land, put it to me, "Many Kentuckians run into their governor every bit the personification of the state. And this is a state that oft comes in for ridicule. Socioeconomically and demographically, culturally nosotros become looked down on by people on the coast. And ofttimes get made fun of. And Kentuckians are sensitive to that. They don't want their governor to exist a jerk. I famously called Matt Bevin an arrogant wiggle when he was running in 2015. He is still arrogant from fourth dimension to time, and he's still a jerk from fourth dimension to time. And if it wasn't for that, he'd be a heavy favorite for reelection."
And Bevin'southward biggest mistake may take been who he has trained most of his ire against: teachers. The governor has spent the by few years picking fights and trading insults with the land's public school teachers every bit he crusades to ringlet dorsum pension benefits. Every bit I reported:
"This governor just keeps opening his oral fissure and putting his foot in it," says Stephanie Winkler, a fourth grade teacher from Madison County who recently concluded her term equally president of the Kentucky Teaching Association (KEA), a powerful advocacy grouping for educators that has tangled with Bevin. "And it's on the minds of people. Anybody that works in a public schoolhouse."
Like many other states, Kentucky has seen a precipitous drop in education funding following the Great Recession. Teacher salaries and spending per pupil are down nigh six percent, adjusted for inflation. Aslope colleagues in West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma, Kentucky teachers joined the "Cherry-red for Ed" strikes of 2018, with educators frequently descending on the state Capitol to protest. Last December, when Bevin called a postelection special legislative session to in one case again try to laissez passer changes to the pension organisation, teachers flooded Frankfort to sing modified Christmas carols urging lawmakers to leave things alone. After less than 24 hours, legislators close down the special session without debating whatever proposals…
The teacher backfire poses a real risk for Bevin. According to Winkler, the onetime KEA president, schools are the biggest employer in most of Kentucky'south 120 counties, and more than half of KEA's members are Republican. Final year, Jonathan Shell, the country House majority leader, lost his Republican primary to R. Travis Brenda, a math teacher fed up with Crush'southward part in co-writing a pension-cut bill.
Kentucky is one of three states that holds its gubernatorial election in the odd year ahead of the next presidential campaign. Since there are no national races happening at the same time, that can lead to low turnout, making poll predictions challenging. Four years ago, Bevin's Democratic opponent consistently posted a small lead, but Bevin came out ahead past nine points. And there has been scant polling of the race, with the election less than three weeks away.
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/kentucky-governor-matt-bevin-tied-poll-andy-beshear-donald-trump/
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