Former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft gained significant ground on Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican nominee in the Kentucky gubernatorial election, according to a poll conducted by Fox 56 and Emerson College.
The poll surveyed 900 “very likely” Republican voters.
Craft now sits just six points behind Cameron, who polled at 30%. In the last public poll conducted by Mason-Dixon, Cameron led the Republican pack at 39%, with Craft sitting second at 13%.
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles also gained significant ground, moving from 8% in the Mason-Dixon Poll to 15% in the Fox 56/Emerson College poll.
Former Northern Kentucky attorney Eric Deters is sitting in fourth place at 6% — he polled under 2% in the Mason-Dixon poll. State Auditor Mike Harmon dropped from 5% in the Mason-Dixon poll to 1.7%.
20.7% were still undecided.
Craft’s gain in the polls comes after her campaign and the Commonwealth PAC — which supports Craft but isn’t connected to her campaign — has spent nearly $4 million on TV ads, according to Medium Buying. Cameron’s campaign and the Bluegrass Freedom Action Pac have spent $200,000.
TV/radio ad spending (including future reservations) in the #KYGov GOP primary is now more than $4.23M --
— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) April 1, 2023
Pro-Kelly Craft (Craft campaign, Commonwealth PAC): $3.99M
Pro-Daniel Cameron (Bluegrass Freedom Action): $200K
Pro-Eric Deters (Deters campaign): $41K pic.twitter.com/e7u018zmE6
Cameron’s first ad recently attacked Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear over the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Andy Beshear violated your First Amendment right to worship freely during COVID. In such a pivotal moment for our liberties, I stood up to Beshear’s authoritarian mandates and re-opened churches. It’s time for a bold conservative leader who has delivered for Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/MSEVIFcsC0
— Daniel Cameron (@DanielCameronAG) April 12, 2023
Craft’s ads have primarily branded Cameron as a “soft-on-crime teddy bear.”
In hitting the campaign trail this week with former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines — an outspoken conservative in favor of banning transgender women in women’s sports — Craft brought her message of “dismantling” the Department of Education and removing “wokeness” from Kentucky’s schools.
An ad released this week featured “woke bureaucrats” parachuting into a school to teach critical race theory.
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Written by Mark Payne. Cross-posted from Link NKY.
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