Pro-Gambling Attorney General Wins Kentucky Gubernatorial ElectionIncumbent Governor Matt Bevin Has Yet To Formally Concede |
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While the incumbent has still yet to concede the election, it appears that Kentucky has elected a pro-gambling governor by a razor-thin margin.
According to CBS News, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Democrat Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Matt Bevin by just 5,333 votes. Before his victory, Beshear was serving as the state’s attorney general.
Bevin has yet to formally surrender his seat, but Beshear already made a victory speech Tuesday night. Bevin cited irregularities in voting as the reason he has yet to relinquish his role.
One of Beshear’s campaign promises was expanding gambling in the state. Beshear promised to legalize casino gambling in one of the most anti-gambling states in the union.
Currently, Kentucky residents must head to neighboring states to place bets on anything outside of horse racing. With Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia all with legal casinos in the state, natives of the commonwealth could drive in nearly any direction and find somewhere to place a bet.
Beshear argued that Kentucky should legalize the activity as a way to keep tax dollars in the state and use the revenue to help fund the state’s public pension system.
Bevin was staunchly against any expanded gambling proposal. He called Beshear’s proposals a “sucker’s bet” and argued that societal costs would outweigh any tax revenue. In an August radio interview, Bevin said that suicides at casinos are a nightly occurrence.
When pressed on those statements in a gubernatorial debate, Bevin denied making them. When the claims were made, the American Gaming Association responded to it by saying that they were ‘patently false.’
Bevin’s stance on gambling may have cost him the election as he was the only Republican in the entire state to lose his seat. Other Republicans have not fallen in line with Bevin’s gambling views when lawmakers from his party sponsored an online gambling bill last February.
The bill had little chance of getting a signature from Bevin anyway and never made it out of the House.
Assuming nothing changes, Beshear will take office at the beginning of 2020. Locals media outlets are reporting, however, that Bevin will be fighting the outcome as far as the legal process will take it.
In 2015, Bevin won the Republican gubernatorial primary by just 83 votes over James Comer. In the race for the Republican nomination, Comer conceded to Bevin.
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