The Lexington Herald-Leader today released their endorsement in the upcoming race for United States Senate, and the editorial is both an endorsement for Charles Booker and a scathing rebuke of incumbent Rand Paul.
Their endorsement opens thusly:
Charles Booker’s quest to become the first progressive, Black U.S. Senator in Kentucky history may be quixotic. His emphasis on ideals like reproductive rights, income inequality, education, healthcare, and the Green New Deal may not appeal to a broad array of Kentuckians.
But Booker deserves your vote because he’s trying to help people, which is more than we can say for incumbent Sen. Rand Paul. He declined to meet with the Herald-Leader editorial board because of a reference in one column to the assault against him by his neighbor. Meanwhile, his idea of leadership is to see how many times he can gig Dr. Anthony Fauci over COVID vaccines or get his wife to make fun of trans kids while filing legislation to hurt them.The Herald-Leader editorial board goes on to call out Paul’s record, starting with the memorable sentence “It’s long been unclear what Paul actually does for the Commonwealth.” They point out that he voted against health care for veterans, that he wants to limit women’s reproductive choices, and hypocritically voted against the infrastructure bill but then wrote 10 letters to the Biden administration asking them to spend some money in Kentucky. Finally, they point out that he now falls in line to Donald Trump every chance he gets.
Turning to Booker, they say “Booker, on the other hand, is trying to bring our state together by emphasizing what we have in common. His ‘Hood to the Holler’ movement has shown us the artificiality of the urban rural divide, how politics have been used to agitate divisions between people who suffer the same poverty, lack of affordable housing, and environmental damages across the state.”
They conclude their endorsement with this observation:
It is frustrating that the national Democratic establishment has not seen fit to support Booker’s campaign; that brain trust apparently thinks it’s more worthwhile to give millions of dollars to right-wing candidates in Republican primaries instead of helping to boost the message of credible candidates.
Still, Charles Booker continues to fight for the people of Kentucky, and with its endorsement, the Herald-Leader urges every voter to join him. He deserves your vote.--30--
You can read the entire endorsement editorial on the Herald-Leader website.
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