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I mean, maybe? State races are a different animal from federal contests. And McConnell’s track record is long and successful. There’s no doubt he will have a real race but I’m not sure Bevin, who McConnell beat in a Senate primary in 2014, going down to defeat tells us all that much about McConnell.
What I am sure of is that McConnell cemented a part of his legacy in the state — and may have put in place his successor — on Tuesday with the election of Daniel Cameron as the state’s attorney general.
Cameron is the first black candidate ever elected as attorney general in Kentucky and the first Republican to hold that office in seven decades. He is also a McConnell protege, having served as the senator’s general counsel from 2015-2017.
At 33 years old, Cameron will almost certainly become a national figure within a party absolutely desperate for younger and more diverse faces. He will be installed as the GOP frontrunner for the 2023 race against all-but-certain Gov. Andy Beshear (D). And, whenever McConnell decides to step down — the majority leader is 77 years old — Cameron could well be his preferred replacement.
Cameron ran as an unapologetic conservative, which, along with a major assist from McConnell’s organization, helped boost him to a primary win over a sitting state senator and then a relatively easily general election victory over Democrat Greg Stumbo, the former speaker of the state House. (Stumbo was seeking a return to the job he held for four years in the mid-2000s.) Cameron touted his support for Trump’s immigration policies as well as his socially conservative views on abortion.
“I grew up in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln just a few miles from his birthplace,” Cameron says in that ad. “It was hard to imagine a little boy who looked like me would someday help a president confirm a Supreme Court justice or even run for attorney general. But here we are.”
Cameron’s win does mean something for Kentucky and for the Republican Party. But it also means a lot for McConnell and how he wants to shape his legacy, as well as the contours of the state and national Republican Party, in the years to come.
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