>> The 2026 session of the Kentucky General Assembly begins this coming week.

What issues are on the table?

After more than four decades, this is the year Kentucky voters will replace Mitch McConnell in the U.S.

Senate.

But first, both parties have lively primary races.

Whiskey maker Jim Beam is pausing production at its main Kentucky site for now.

Some new laws are now in effect as we begin 2026.

It's a special edition of Comment Next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant, and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky Tonight, a discussion of where things stand as we begin a new year.

And the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists are McKenna Horsley politics reporter for the Kentucky Lantern Phillip Bailey, Louisville based chief political correspondent for USA today.

And joining us remotely is Todd Faulkner, anchor for local six in Paducah.

We taped this program on December 23rd, so the KET staff and our panelists could enjoy the holidays.

We'll catch up on the news when we return live on January 9th.

In 2026, Kentucky voters will decide who replaces Senator Mitch McConnell.

The Republican is Kentucky's longest serving senator ever and has led his caucus in the Senate for many years.

Kentuckians elected him to seven six year terms.

>> Seven times.

My fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate every day.

In between, I've been humbled by the trust they placed in me to do their business right here, representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime.

>> Phillip McConnell gets criticism from all corners, it seems, but he built the modern day Republican Party.

He encouraged party switching in the late 1990s, and he's been in a position to bring a lot of money and a lot of attention to Kentucky over the years.

>> I think it's pretty clear this is the end of an era here, and Mitch McConnell is likely to be remembered as the most consequential senator in Kentucky's history, I would say even more so probably than Henry Clay at this point.

Think about his role in the tobacco settlement in the 1990s.

Campaign finance reform.

And there's no one who has their fingerprints on the modern day current Supreme Court other than him.

But there is no Republican Party without Mitch McConnell.

However, I think the stain probably on Mitch McConnell's record at the end of his career is his association with Donald Trump.

Right?

A lot of these Republicans who wouldn't be in these positions without Mitch McConnell really turned their back on him because of that relationship to Donald Trump, which deteriorated over years.

You see, in different books and different statements behind the scenes that Senator McConnell has made really think of the president as a despicable person.

Right.

And Donald Trump returned the favor and really sort of pushed him out of modern Republican politics.

>> Was McConnell able to shift with the times?

>> I think when you look back at it, I mean, with the Reagan era, the Clinton years, all the way through Barack Obama, there was certainly no one who was had a long game that Mitch McConnell had.

I think what he didn't anticipate, and we saw the early preview of this in 2010 with Rand Paul's arrival on the scene, that that populism on the right, I think Senator McConnell underestimated it.

He assumed that the courts and the voters would handle Donald Trump and that populism from the Make America Great Again movement, I think, really took him an undercut a lot of his credibility and a lot of his assumptions about American politics.

>> McKenna it's interesting that you have the Kentucky Republican Party honoring McConnell, certainly their state headquarters, which they are expanding, is named for him.

While the Republicans running to replace him have had very few nice things to say about him.

>> Right, definitely.

This year we've seen candidates in that GOP primary tried to distance themselves from Senator McConnell and somewhat in favor of tying themselves closer to the president, at times hoping for an endorsement.

That endorsement has not come yet.

It's unclear if it's going to even come before the primary.

But, you know, I think that's kind of a testament to kind of a referendum on what McConnell's legacy is in Kentucky.

You know, throughout the years, we've seen his polling approval ratings be lower, but he continues to be reelected throughout the years by Kentucky voters.

So it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next few months.

>> He went into many of those election years upside down in as far as favorability, and then ended up winning those races.

So that is interesting.

Todd McConnell was, as we said, sort of also founded the beachhead for Republicans out in western Kentucky.

You know, it was dominated by Democrats.

It used to be said that Fancy Farm was no place for Republicans.

Now, many might say the opposite, but Kentucky.

McConnell went to Fancy Farm.

He visited Kentucky in western Kentucky very often, and apparently a lot of consequence of his association with that region.

>> Yeah, to your point, he flipped the script in 1984 when he attended Fancy Farm.

And then you look at his long, storied career, so impactful and influential that he built a base over that time in western Kentucky.

Even voters who may not always have agreed on positions he took continued to put him back in office because they were reaping the rewards.

And those and that includes hundreds of millions of dollars for federally to ongoing cleanup efforts at the Department of Energy Paducah site.

We were just named Paducah, a future hub for AI infrastructure.

So Western Kentucky has benefited from his long tenure in office.

>> Was there is there a belief in the Paducah area that that he put a priority on the purchase?

>> I'll tell you who would absolutely say yes.

And that's the Paducah Chamber of Commerce, because over the last somewhat 20 years, when they do their DC Fly-In, they meet with McConnell, they meet with his staff, and they talk about the priorities back home that require federal grant money, any sort of federal money for river port development, for riverfront development and other tourism projects.

And he's delivered so quite influential.

>> The race to replace McConnell features aggressive primaries on both sides.

It's fair to say as we enter 2026, we do not know who will face off for the seat in November.

So those running to succeed McConnell offer very different approaches.

We do know that those primaries are upcoming.

The Republicans have a primary, including former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Congressman Andy Barr and businessman Nate Morris.

How is that playing out early on?

>> Well, like I said earlier, the candidates are definitely trying to this year.

So far.

They've definitely tried to sway Trump voters here in Kentucky, tying themselves to the president, saying they would support his agenda in office.

So it might be difficult for Republican voters to really parse that overall message just because it's a lot of the same going into this primary.

Of course, Trump's popularity is now in question, particularly over the Epstein files release that we're seeing right now while we're filming.

So maybe moving into the next year, Trump's popularity might not be what it is now currently with Republicans.

So that will be something that definitely plays out in 26.

>> I agree.

I mean, look, when we see this Republican primary here in Kentucky, it's going to be a referendum on Donald Trump whether people want to believe that or not.

And that's because we're seeing the president's base for the first time really erode.

I think, of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman out of Georgia, who's having some friction with the president, right, saying that she's more America first than Make America Great.

Again.

We're seeing, for example, in the Tennessee special election for their seventh congressional district.

It's a district that Donald Trump won by 22 points, where Bill in the Republican there only won by nine points.

So it'll be interesting to see, like I said, with whether it's the Epstein files, whether it's this escalating situation with Venezuela or the affordability issue, which polling shows a lot of Republican men, young Republican, white men, college educated or not, are having some issues with the president.

Would it be even beneficial for some of these candidates to be associated with Donald Trump, as he begins to lose some of his steam with his Make America Great Again base.

>> At this point early on?

Does anybody have an advantage in that primary?

Philip.

>> I would think, look, if we're thinking about what Kentuckians are going to want, right?

If we're thinking about the Mitch McConnell mold of someone who brings resources back to the state, Andy Barr would obviously be someone in that pipeline already.

He's in the leadership pipeline for the House.

He's already got a lot of those relationships in Washington.

When you think about having someone who is sort of an ideological rabble rouser, you already have that in Rand Paul.

But if Morris and Barr get into this back and forth, I still believe that Daniel Cameron, given his good relationships with prosecutors and sheriffs in this state, could come up the middle and say, hey, look, I've been Mitch McConnell's aide.

I've gotten the support of Donald Trump.

I'm the one person who can sort of balance the two halves of this party.

And I think that could be an advantage for him going into that primary.

>> Todd how much attention are the Republican Senate candidates paying to Western Kentucky?

>> Not enough right now, but I think that will change after the new year, once the new year is under our belt.

I think these candidates, separate from the Trump endorsement, are really going to have to work to define their candidacy and what they're going to do to deliver resources, and I look forward to hearing more from them.

But I agree that right now, I predict Andy Barr really right now has the advantage because of his connections in Washington.

>> The Democrats basically have a cavalry charge for their party's nomination, and they're hoping to win for the first time since their last victory in a Kentucky Senate race in 1992, Wendell Ford's last term.

Todd you recently talked to Charles Booker.

What did he say about his chances?

>> Well, he's very confident.

This is his third attempt.

He ran in 2020, 2022.

And I will tell you that he is much more polished a politician candidate than he was five years ago.

From a television perspective, he speaks in those 18 second to 22nd soundbites, where he hammers home his message and he hammers home what he believes in.

And that includes Medicare for all, universal basic income, kind of.

He described it as a Kentucky New Deal, and he described himself as battle tested and ready for this fight.

>> Philip, what do you see in that Democratic Senate race with, you know, does anybody have an upper hand in that very crowded race with so many different approaches?

>> We're seeing this nationally.

I think that microcosm, again, is going to be here at the front row seat of Kentucky.

We're seeing all these Democratic candidates across the country running in a more populist, almost a blue MAGA sort of mantra here, Medicare for all.

Certainly on there.

You're certainly hearing about universal basic income and a lot of other populist ideals.

I'm looking at someone like Dale Romans, someone who has a little bit of a wink and a nod from Governor Beshear.

Right.

If anyone who runs on the more populist side of this, I think is going to have an advantage, Booker already has that sort of built in.

I think Dale Romans, again, is someone who is a new candidate who might be a fresh, particularly out in those rural areas where you've seen a lot of that suffering over Medicaid cuts and other issues.

But look, don't take Amy McGrath for granted here.

She's someone who's been a political powerhouse for his fundraising.

She's someone who can cover end to end in this state.

In terms of getting her message out there.

>> McKenna, we've talked about, it wouldn't take a lot of votes to win that primary given so many candidates.

More than half a dozen.

>> No.

And, you know, I think it really depends on how motivated Kentucky Democratic voters are to show out in this primary.

I think if we see a strong support of Democratic voters, particularly in a place where there isn't a clear leader, that would probably be good for that Democratic nominee heading into the fall.

>> We're also watching the House races, especially in the sixth district, where the two sides have primaries, to replace Andy Barr, who is running for the Senate, as we've noted.

And in the fourth district, Congressman Thomas Massie continues to be highly visible.

After pushing hard for the release of the Epstein files, President Trump's team hopes to defeat him.

The president has endorsed L. Gallrein for the GOP nomination.

Philip, what are you seeing there in the fourth?

>> Well, this isn't the first time that President Trump has taken issue with Congressman Massie.

I think he feels a lot more confident probably this time around than previously.

He's gotten a lot of national attention for his role as bipartisan role in pushing for these Epstein files.

He's threatening to file some sort of lawsuits and really taking Attorney General Pam Bondi to task for failing to fully release these records in a way that I think a lot of victims of Epstein and others had anticipated.

So I think, you know, when we think about Thomas Massie, he's bucking the president at the perfect time.

His numbers are hurting with the MAGA base.

But also, I think for Congressman Massie, he's always been someone who's thought of as sort of his own horse, a maverick, so to speak, in the same vein as John McCain.

I don't hear anyone nationally being really worried about Massie losing this election.

But I do hear, though, is more conversation about Thomas Massie's role here in Kentucky, whether that may be running for Senate one day or governor, and maybe taking on a more national role as an outspoken, bipartisan individual.

>> We'll watch that.

And, of course, again, we're watching that sixth district race, which is crowded on both sides.

The filing deadline is January 9th, as candidates will be running for local and legislative seats and for school boards.

Todd and Paducah sort of goes out of order with most of the cities in Kentucky, because most cities will be electing mayors this year.

You did that last year, but there will be races to watch there in Western Kentucky.

>> There certainly are.

And one of the ones we're tracking, of course, is the race for McCracken County Judge Executive.

The incumbent is two term Craig Clymer.

He's running for a third term, and for the first time, he has some real challengers.

One is a businessman, Matt Moore.

The other is a fellow commissioner, Richard Abraham.

And there has been some debate and hesitancy among the fiscal court on a host of issues.

But most predominant is the one to increase sheriff's department salaries, to be competitive with neighboring counties.

And that's been a real hot button issue.

But that is race to watch.

A two term and a two term incumbent could be unseated.

>> All right.

We know you will be doing that.

And it is about to get really busy in Frankfort.

The 2026 Kentucky legislative session will open Tuesday, with the state budget at the top of the agenda for the 60 days that lawmakers will be in Frankfort and McKenna, the 60 days that you'll be there, or at least tied up with it, right?

What are you expecting to see as lawmakers decide how to spend those tax dollars?

>> I definitely think it's going to be a very wide ranging issue session.

You know, we've kind of gotten a preview of some of those issues coming up.

I think one thing that will be debated among among the Republican super majorities in both chambers will be whether or not to enact another lowering of the state income tax.

Kentucky did not hit those physical triggers that were pushed put in place a few years ago.

And some lawmakers think that particularly Jason Nemes of Louisville, that there's some issue with the calculation this year because taxes were due later in the year instead of April like they normally were due to severe weather.

So, you know, we might see lawmakers debate that in particular, education funding is always a big a source of debate throughout the year.

This year we've seen Protect Our Schools, which is a PAC that advocated against amendment to.

They hosted a few town halls and saw a need for more education funding in the state.

They've made a multi-million dollar request for the legislature, but it's unclear how that's going to go.

And, you know, there's just several issues we'll see, particularly on housing, artificial intelligence and much more to come.

>> Do we know what the priority bills will be at this point, Senate Bill one or House Bill one?

>> I do not think we know that yet, but it's something we'll definitely probably learn soon in session.

It's something that the Republicans will want to put forth.

Republican leadership early on.

Also, we'll see the governor do his state of the Commonwealth address as session begins as well.

>> How much pressure do you think there will be to to make whole some of the the federal cuts that are coming in?

Philip, even though the Senate budget chairman has said don't expect that.

>> Well, look, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on states, particularly poorer states like Kentucky.

We've seen in Donald Trump's first year in his return to power with these cuts, in these major slashes to federal infrastructure and federal agencies and states like Kentucky are very dependent on Department of Education and other agencies at the federal level.

So now that that funding has been removed or being undercut, states are going to have to come up with that money somehow.

And we don't know where that money exactly is going to come from.

Everyone's talking about affordability.

And one thing even Governor Beshear doesn't want to do is talk about a tax increase of any kind.

So is that going to come from cuts to other agencies here at the state level?

Is that going to come from maybe austerity and tightening our belts and these places, or is Kentucky attracts new businesses?

Maybe that's the way we do this revenue here.

It's going to be a mix up.

But this is the consequence, right, of Donald Trump's return to power here and making this radical change to the federal level that I think a lot of people didn't anticipate during that 2024 election.

>> Todd do those same concerns resonate in western Kentucky?

>> Yeah, they do.

It trickles down.

And we're seeing it firsthand.

For example, our non-profits, dozens of non-profits say that they're seeing an influx in demand and with fewer resources and fewer dollars, federal and state.

So communities like Paducah and like communities throughout Kentucky are trying to figure out next steps.

It's very confusing.

It's very worrisome.

And they're just trying to do their best, hoping that the politicians somewhere figure it out.

>> Governor Beshear, of course, is one of the most popular chief executives in the country, if you look at those approval ratings.

But Republicans in Frankfort are not likely to give him any easy wins.

And in fact, in recent years, they've pretty much disregarded his budget proposals.

And Philip, he's pushing really hard for universal pre-K, but he knows that it's not likely to pass.

>> I don't think, for Governor Beshear, I don't look at him just as the governor of Kentucky anymore, Bill.

I look at him as this potentially national candidate for president, and he is someone who is trying to mark his territory really politically in a national way.

And I think Republicans even slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk before he was killed in that heinous act of political violence, made a comment about what's the Republican, what's the Democrat that you're worried about running for president?

And Kirk said, Andy Beshear.

If he runs as a populist, he already has the look right of a moderate Democrat.

He already has the appeal and the sort of statesmanship of that.

If he runs in that direction and he takes that on a national scale, I think he could be a very formidable person.

I don't think it really is about him doing it here in Kentucky.

It's about here are my values here in Kentucky.

See what I stand for here in this red state, in this state that Donald Trump won.

And it gives me sort of a platform nationally to launch.

>> The Ken.

Do you see that at this point?

Beshear more is a national figure.

>> Yes.

You know, I mean, I think, you know, he's thinking about this as his last budget session before his term ends, his second term here in Kentucky.

You know, if he were to get universal pre-K, that would be a big feather in his cap heading to the national stage and kind of going along with that message that he's had for a long time, that he's an education first governor.

So, you know, I think we'll definitely see him think about the future as his term ends as well.

>> Beshear will spend this year heading up the Democratic Governors Association.

He's continuing to build a national resume.

He recently said his goal as head of the DGA will be to pull off some wins.

>> This weekend.

I became the head, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

My job is to lead the organization in the races that we have coming up in 2026, and no pressure on me, but there are 36 of them.

And if that wasn't enough, our past chair, Laura Kelly, who's on this episode, went two for two and in our interview said, all I have to do is go 36 for 36.

>> All right.

So, Phillip, what should we be watching from Beshear in the year ahead?

>> Well, look, as the chair of the DGA, Beshear is going to have one of the most important perches in the Democratic Party.

You're going to have some very critical races for governor across this country in battleground states.

I'm thinking toss ups in Michigan and Wisconsin and Arizona.

But there's also some battles here in which Republicans are slightly favored, like in Nevada and Arizona, excuse me?

In Iowa and in Georgia, Governor Beshear has pitched to national voters is that I'm this Democrat who won in a Trump state.

Well, he just mentioned Laura Kelly, the former outgoing chair of the DGA, who's the governor of Kansas, another red state Democrat that is also a governor's seat that's up for reelection in 2026.

So we're going to see Andy Beshear making tours all across the country.

He's meeting every Democrat in those different parts of the of the country.

But he's also going to give his pitch on.

Here's my vision for the Democratic Party.

And here are the type of candidates that I support who could go to the finish line.

>> Todd your thoughts on what Governor Beshear is up to?

>> Yeah, to Philip's point, you know, this his role as chair of the DGA is really a litmus test.

Can can he walk the walk?

He can talk it.

Can he walk it and get these get these candidates in office?

I will say he's of course got the podcast.

We heard that he's chair of the DGA.

He's making visits outside of Kentucky.

Everything that screams, I'm running for president, or at least I'm running for in the primary for the nomination.

And his name is continuing to grow.

I was in Washington, DC this year for some reporting, and in my conversations with political pundits and some of the cable networks and politicians, people know the name Andy Beshear.

>> All right.

Some new laws are now in effect after the first of the year.

And one of those creates a framework for more consumer data privacy, the Consumer Data Protection Act for Kentucky is now in effect.

McKenna.

And so it does give some Kentuckians a little more say on how their data can be used.

>> Right.

This allows Kentuckians to have a few new rights to their own data privacy, like accessing personal data, deleting it, and more.

This will apply to companies who are doing business in the state or are geared towards state residents in some way, with large amounts of consumers annually.

>> All right.

Jim Beam, one of Kentucky's largest bourbon makers, is apparently pausing production at its largest Kentucky facility, Happy Hollow in Claremont McKenna.

That is certainly attention getting.

Apparently, the bourbon maker is facing some some headwinds out there.

Tariff uncertainty, the fact that the number of American adults who drink alcohol now is down to about 54%.

I think I read that's a 90 year low, right.

>> And also with on another factor that's applies to those as well, is that there's an increasing supply of aging spirit barrels in Kentucky.

And also distillers have to pay a tax on those because of a state law.

So that's something that's also facing distillers as well.

And that I think is a factor in this.

The company does plan to invest in site enhancements throughout this time.

So we'll see how this progresses.

In 26.

>> Bourbon barrel tax is beginning to be scaled back starting I think this year it takes it's going to take a while for that to happen.

All right.

There was this mock funeral for the penny just before Christmas in Washington.

Some dressed as Abe Lincoln, Kentucky born, whose likeness appears on the penny here in Kentucky.

Many retailers now looking to the state revenue cabinet for some sort of guidance, or to the federal government on how to deal with the loss of the penny.

>> That's something that we've been talking with the Department of Revenue with throughout the year on how to handle that and hopefully looking to the national legislators to put something in.

So that way, every state's plan on an even playing field.

>> So, Philip, lots of questions for retailers.

And for one thing, they don't know which amount to apply the the state sales tax to.

Right, right.

What it should have been or what they rounded down to or up to.

>> Right.

Do we round down or do we round up and look?

Folks are feeling this in a significant way.

Like again, affordability, cost of living are major issues.

Now, Pew Research found that 2/5 of Americans use cash.

I think it was the Federal Reserve that reported back in 2023 that only 16% of Americans actually use cash at all.

But who does this disproportionately affect?

Your rural poor, your urban poor?

So as affordability and cost of living becomes a major issue in our politics, I'm looking for national leaders like Governor Beshear, like President Trump and others to say, where do you want this to go?

Here, because who's going to hurt?

At the end of the day, it's going to hurt your rural poor, your urban poor who used cash still.

And that's people here in Kentucky.

>> All right.

We'll watch.

Well, Kentucky Tourism Commissioner Mike Manget predicts the state will continue to benefit from those who come to see us and spend their money while they're here.

He recently told me that his job is to get visitors here for the first time, and that the friendliness of Kentuckians usually takes it from there.

>> And let me say this about the people of Kentucky.

We do a study every year on a visitor profile.

One of the things that we ask them in that is, what do you remember most about your your visit?

And without fail in the top three, every year comes in the friendliness and hospitality of the people of Kentucky.

And we don't take that for granted.

That is not something that you see everywhere.

>> So, Todd, isn't it nice to live in a state where the friendliness of the people is enough to drive some economic trends?

>> Absolutely.

And hey, I'm a 20 year transplant from Ohio and I've decided to call Kentucky.

>> Yeah, but you had folks in southeastern Kentucky.

You told me that.

>> I did.

I yes, my grandfather was a coal miner in eastern Kentucky.

So I got a little bit of Kentucky.

But to your point, tourism is just so important.

In fact, the Paducah Chamber and our Senate and House members here gathered for a legislative policy luncheon where they laid out their agendas that they'd like to see at the state level next year.

And top three is always tourism for Paducah in the greater western Kentucky area.

>> So here we are in 2026, a year of big decisions in Frankfort.

And at the ballot box.

We'll be here to report and analyze it all.

KET will continue its robust coverage of the General Assembly.

Look for that online and on the various public affairs program.

Have a good week and a good year ahead.

>> Todd.

Well thank you Todd.

>> Yes.

Thank you.

>> You guys were great.

This is fun I enjoy it.