With the support of Governor Steve Beshear, you would think that Democratic Secretary of State candidate Elaine Walker would be in a good position to win the Democratic primary next week. But when you look at the progress and energy of both campaigns, it becomes obvious that Alison Lundergan Grimes’s campaign has an overwhelming amount of momentum going into the final week of the campaign.
As we’ve mentioned before, Grimes has a 3:1 fundraising lead, hitting the airwaves this week in a massive ad buy, while Walker says that she will focus on “direct mail, email blasts and robo-calls”.
But that’s just one aspect of the advantage emerging for Grimes. Take a look at the endorsements in this race. On Walker’s website, you learn that she is endorsed by 3 people in Bowling Green that I have never heard of, a former Louisville deputy mayor, and three unions. She has the support of Beshear and Rep. Larry Clark, but they’re not up on her site. But here’s who is endorsing Alison Lundergan Grimes:
- Ben Chandler
- Jack Conway
- Dan Mongiardo
- Greg Stumbo
- Julian Carroll
- Jim Gray
- Sen. Kathy Stein
- Rep. Mary Lou Marzian
- Rep. Joni Jenkins
- Fayette PVA David O’Neill
- Rep. Sannie Overly
- Rep. Martha Jane King
- Rep. Derrick Graham
- Rep. Leslie Combs
- Rep. Rita Smart
- Rep. Tanya Pullin
- Sen. Robin Webb
- Sen. Denise Harper Angel
- United Food & Commercial Workers Local 227
- United Steelworkers District 8
- Teamsters Local Union No. 651
- The Communication Workers of America
- United Mine Workers of Kentucky
- Kentucky Laborers’ District Council
- Kentucky Professional Firefighters & Louisville Retired Firefighters
- Indiana Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters & Millwrights
The likes of Mongiardo, Stumbo, Carroll and Webb aren’t surprising, but… Kathy Stein? Mary Lou Marzian? Joni Jenkins? That’s an extremely impressive collection of conservative and liberal Democrats from across the state, not to mention the overwhelming union support. If some are arguing that Grimes will have trouble with liberals, the inclusion of Stein, Marzian and Jenkins kind of rips that to shreds. Some of these names are mentioned in her new ad that went up this week, but I almost feel that they played such a huge advantage too subtly.
And while Facebook is certainly not a giant factor, it can be indicative of the amount of grassroots support a candidate has. Whereas Grimes has close to 1,4000 supporters, Walker over the course of 5 months has amassed… 148. And her page includes photo albums like this one, showing Walker talking to a bunch of voters wearing Grimes stickers, but no Walker stickers. Including this one:
This will certainly be a low turnout primary, so anything is possible. But looking at every available factor, this race is looking like a win for Grimes. And a big loss for Governor Steve Beshear, at least in the primary.




SHE WON'T GO!



THE DAILY YONDER





