Kentucky
Kentucky is latest battleground for secretaries of state facing election falsehoods during primaries
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s secretary of state has won bipartisan praise during his first term in office for expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing elections that have been free of widespread problems.
That record still hasn’t paved a clear path to reelection for Republican Michael Adams. He now must persuade primary voters who have been bombarded for years with false claims about rigged elections.
He faces one challenger in Tuesday’s GOP primary who has promoted debunked election claims and another who favors pulling Kentucky out of a multistate effort designed to detect voter fraud, an effort being pushed by conspiracy theorists in conservative states.
The battle for Kentucky’s top elections post follows similar campaigns during last year’s midterm elections, when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election won GOP primaries in numerous states. A handful of them went on to win the office in deeply Republican states, but each of those candidates lost in the closely contested swing states that typically decide presidential elections.
Adams, a lawyer, soundly defeated Steve Knipper in the primary four years ago. Knipper, who has questioned the result of the 2020 presidential election, is back for another run along with another Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and television station executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former state representative who recently lost reelection. He is unopposed in his primary.
Adams earned praise from both parties for increasing voting opportunities and allowing mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections during the pandemic. He has raised significantly more campaign cash than his two opponents. But he said the political landscape has shifted dramatically for secretary of state races around the country, namely because of a wave of conspiracy theories and false allegations after the 2020 presidential race.
“This job has gotten a lot more high-profile than it used to be,” Adams said. “And I think the big question in this election is, which direction are we going to go in?”
Adams, 47, has had harsh words for election skeptics, calling them “cranks and kooks” who shouldn’t be in charge of Kentucky’s election process.
State and local election officials continue to grapple with the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The lies he continues to tell, including during a televised town hall, earlier this week, not only undermine confidence in elections, particularly among Republicans, but have led to harassment and death threats against election officials and their staff.
Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have shown there was no widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.
Knipper, 52, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state in 2015 before losing to Democratic incumbent Alison Grimes in the general election. The former city council member from a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a staffer under former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, but was fired by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.
Knipper and a former colleague of his in the lieutenant governor’s office who also was swept out by Bevin, Adrienne Southworth, have been touring the state together alleging — without evidence — election fraud in the 2019 governor’s race won by Democrat Andy Beshear and in the 2020 presidential election.
Knipper said he has raised more money and enjoyed more support from the public than during his previous two races, and is running television ads for the first time.
“I’ve had enthusiasm, but I have never had this much enthusiasm behind me,” he said.
Maricle has campaigned on his experience in the Kentucky Legislature, saying he is the only candidate who has a voting record on election legislation. That includes support for a bill in the 1990s that allowed voters who were in line at the time of poll closings to remain in line and finish voting.
Maricle, 60, is critical of Knipper’s election skepticism, saying Knipper has provided no evidence.
“He’s said these elections have been stolen through the machines — prove it,” Maricle said.
But Maricle also has campaigned on moving the state out of a multistate system intended to combat voter fraud. He said he is taking a cue from other Republican secretaries of state critical of it and said it is not doing a good enough job helping states clear their voter rolls.
“It’s flawed,” he said. “You have nine Republican states in the last 90 days do away with that system.”
Knipper has also sought to capitalize on the issue, which has divided Republican state election officials. In a March release, he urged supporters to call on Adams to withdraw Kentucky from the bipartisan effort, which has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Trump’s false claims.
In the release, Knipper repeated claims that the Electronic Registration Information Center, a voluntary system known as ERIC, was funded by George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. While ERIC received initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from the money provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERIC’s executive director, Shane Hamlin.
Knipper’s stance on the ERIC system won him the vote of Dae Combs, a 63-year-old Louisville resident who visited an early voting location on Thursday.
“I’m just concerned that it would be easily manipulated,” Combs said. “I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I just think there needs to be more investigation into it.”
Combs said she doesn’t question the results of the 2020 election despite her support of Knipper.
Biden “is our president and we kind of go with the system. This is our system, it’s the best system in the world, but I do think there is room to look at things and not just take things at face value.”
Louisiana has left a group of states using the ERIC system after a series of online posts early last year questioning its funding and purpose. Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia subsequently provided notice that they, too, would leave. Texas has said it’s working on an alternative effort and is unlikely to stay. Kentucky is among six Republican-led states that have so far remained.
Judy Davenport, who was voting in Louisville on her 62nd birthday, said her vote for Adams was influenced by Knipper’s election skepticsm.
“I’m not an election denier,” she said.
___
Cassidy reported from Atlanta.
___
Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Kentucky
Owsley County man remembers FEMA experience as people recover from Helene
OWSLEY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sunday, FEMA released numbers and financial assistance updates for several states, but some people have taken to Facebook claiming they are being denied.
A similar situation happened to a Booneville, Kentucky grocery store owner, Bart Pattons, who lost his store in a massive flood in a Summer 2021.
LEX 18 spoke with Patton’s wife Julie back in 2021 when the flooding first hit their store. She showed off the major damage it had experienced.
“Everything in the store had to be thrown away. Everything. Noting was usable as far as groceries were concerned. Every item in the store had to go away. We’re talking about a lot of items. 15,000 items. Just different items. It all had to be trashed,” describes Bart who still gets teary eyed thinking about it.
Bart says he turned to FEMA assistance to help them back on their feet, but was met with refusal instead.
“We didn’t get any responses from FEMA at all. Thank goodness for our insurance and we were able to live through a problem or the store wouldn’t be there if we didn’t,” explains Bart who says they were never given a reason as to why they were denied.
Bart also admits he did not call FEMA after his application was denied to get answers as to why it was denied.
As of Sunday, the southeast is trying to survive after Hurricane Helene tore through six states and flattened
several cities.
FEMA announced federal assistance for survivors has passed $137 million. According to its website, the organization has approved of more than $30 million dollars in housing and other assistance to more than 27,000 households in North Carolina.
However, several people have taken to Facebook to state their FEMA assistant applications have been denied and those approved will only receive $750. FEMA claims that $750 is for those who applied for ‘Serious Needs Assistance’to cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, diapers, etc.
LEX 18 reached out to FEMA in Kentucky but have not received a call back.
“Just pray as though it depends on God. Act as though it depends on you. That’s about as simple statement as you can make cause you’re all you got,” said Bart.
Bart says the pain from that day is still fresh. The couple isn’t fully back on their feet yet.
His message to those going through the flood right now is be there for one another and help anyone who needs it.
If you would like to help those affected by Helene you can donate through American Red Cross.
Kentucky
Where Kentucky stands in the latest AP and Coaches Polls
Many fans were hoping the Kentucky Wildcats would move up in the rankings even with a bye week due to the major upsets that happened over the weekend in college football and with the Cats’ big upset win last weekend at No. 6 Ole Miss.
Kentucky continues to move up in the rankings in the Coaches Poll. The Week 7 Coaches Poll Top 25 has come out, and Kentucky received 12 votes in the latest poll, which would rank them No. 31 overall and help to move them up two spots from the previous weekend.
As for the latest AP Top 25 poll, Kentucky moved down in the rankings, coming in at No. 39 overall and only receiving one vote.
Last week, Kentucky was ranked No. 35 and received six votes to be in the top-25. Sadly, all the losses this past weekend did not help out the Cats.
It is worth pointing out that Brett McMurphy of Action Network HQ released his top 25 earlier and had Kentucky as his No. 25 overall team.
My @AP_Top25 ballot
1-Texas
2-Ohio St
3-Georgia
4-Miami
5-Penn St
6-Oregon
7-Iowa St
8-Clemson
9-Ole Miss
10-Alabama
11-LSU
12-Tennessee
13-Notre Dame
14-BYU
15-Indiana
16-A&M
17-Utah
18-Kansas St
19-OU
20-Missouri
21-Pitt
22-Boise St
23-Illinois
24-SMU
25-Kentucky— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 6, 2024
The SEC continues to dominate in the Coaches Poll with six teams ranked in the top 10, and in total, nine SEC teams made it into the top 25 for the Coaches Poll. Also, Louisville is no longer ranked after being upset by SMU while playing at home.
- Texas
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Penn State
- Miami
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Clemson
- Notre Dame
- Iowa State
- Texas A&M
- BYU
- Oklahoma
- Utah
- Missouri
- Kansas State
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Boise State
- Illinois
- Pittsburgh
- SMU
Others Receiving Votes: Southern California 102; Nebraska 68; Army West Point 36; Navy 26; Colorado 16; Kentucky 12; Arizona 12; UNLV 11; Texas Tech 8; Virginia 7; Washington 5; Liberty 5; Vanderbilt 4; Rutgers 3; Arkansas 3; Tulane 2; Louisville 2; Iowa 2; Syracuse 1; Arizona State 1
- Texas
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Georgia
- Miami (FL)
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Ole Miss
- Clemson
- Iowa State
- Notre Dame
- LSU
- BYU
- Texas A&M
- Utah
- Boise State
- Kansas State
- Indiana
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Pittsburgh
- Illinois
- Michigan
- SMU
Others Receiving Votes: Southern Cal 98, Nebraska 51, Navy 43, Army 33, Vanderbilt 26, Arkansas 17, Washington St. 8, Iowa 8, Texas Tech 7, Syracuse 6, Washington 4, Louisville 4, Colorado 3, Kentucky 1.
Hopefully, if Kentucky can defeat Vanderbilt this Saturday, they can gain some more momentum in the AP Top 25 in hopes of finally being ranked or being very close to being in the Top 25.
Kentucky
Kentucky commit Nicholas Smith reaffirms pledge to Wildcats following Alabama offer
Nicholas Smith, a highly regarded defensive lineman from Georgia, has solidified his commitment to the Kentucky Wildcats, reassuring fans and coaches alike that he remains fully dedicated to the Wildcats.
Despite increased attention from other programs, the 3-star recruit confirmed his plans to join head coach Mark Stoops’ defense in Lexington.
Smith, who originally announced his commitment to Kentucky earlier this year, has continued to impress with his size, strength, and potential as a defensive lineman. As his stock has risen, interest from other top programs has naturally followed, including a recent offer from the Alabama Crimson Tide.
However, Smith remains firm in his decision to play for the Wildcats, expressing confidence in Stoops’ leadership and the team’s future.
“I’m locked in with Kentucky,” Smith recently told KSR. “Coach Stoops and the coaching staff have been amazing throughout this whole process, and I really feel like this is where I belong. I want to be part of the growth and success that’s happening in Lexington.”
Stoops and his staff have built a reputation for identifying and developing top defensive players, and Smith’s decision to stay committed adds to the momentum the Wildcats are building on the recruiting trail. Smith’s versatility on the defensive front will provide Kentucky with another strong piece as they continue to bolster their defense.
Smith’s decision to reaffirm his commitment is a significant win for Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class, which is shaping up to be one of Stoops’ strongest. His commitment strengthens the Wildcats’ future defense and sends a clear message that Kentucky is becoming a destination for top-tier defensive talent in the SEC.
-
Technology4 days ago
Charter will offer Peacock for free with some cable subscriptions next year
-
World3 days ago
Ukrainian stronghold Vuhledar falls to Russian offensive after two years of bombardment
-
World4 days ago
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange says he pleaded ‘guilty to journalism’ in order to be freed
-
Technology3 days ago
Beware of fraudsters posing as government officials trying to steal your cash
-
Health2 days ago
Health, happiness and helping others are vital parts of free and responsible society, Founding Fathers taught
-
Virginia5 days ago
Status for Daniels and Green still uncertain for this week against Virginia Tech; Reuben done for season
-
Sports2 days ago
Freddie Freeman says his ankle sprain is worst injury he's ever tried to play through
-
News2 days ago
Lebanon says 50 medics killed in past three days as Israel extends its bombardment