I don't know about you, but it sounds like Kentucky is ready for a new governor.

Kentucky voters took the first step to secure four more years.

The field is set for this year's governor's race in Kentucky.

It's not just governor.

See who else is on your November ballot.

Got my Ph.D. at the age of 43, which was not typical.

And why the new University of Louisville president means business.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions, the Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this Wednesday, May the 17th.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

The fall races are set.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron has won the Republican nomination for Kentucky governor.

He beat the 11 other candidates for governor with almost half of the vote.

Now he'll take on incumbent governor, Democrat Andy Beshear.

Our Kacey Parker Bell has been covering this governor's race from the beginning and he has the highlights of some of the notable moments from last night.

I don't know about you, but it sounds like Kentucky is ready for a new governor.

The match up for the most anticipated race in the country is set tonight.

Kentucky voters took the first step to secure four more years.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron will face incumbent Governor Andy Beshear in this November's general election.

Cameron bested his two high profile opponents, former U.N.

Ambassador Kelly Craft and Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarrels while taking almost half of the Republican vote.

I see a land of opportunity and a world of potential for the future generations across the bluegrass, and I'm hopeful that each and every child and grandchild here in Kentucky will have the tools they need to achieve their wildest dreams.

Polls released just days before the election showed Cameron pulling away from craft, who had long polled in second place.

She spent more than $9 million of her own money in her bid for the governor's mansion.

And while I've been inspired by thousands of Kentuckians I've met, this campaign has also had its tough moments.

I knew we would be attacked by Democrats, but I never in a million years thought that the attack would come from my opponents to my family.

I guess if you're a politician, you're used to that.

But I've always tried to believe the best in others, even when they act with hate in their hearts.

The surprise of the night was the second place finish by Ryan Quarles.

He struck an optimistic tone about his campaign.

We ran a positive race.

We're in a race based off Kentucky issues and we were in a race where we visited all 120 counties.

The victory for Daniel Cameron was so decisive that the Associated Press called the race for him about 10 minutes after polls closed.

Cameron won 108 of Kentucky's 120 counties.

Coral's claimed eight.

And Craft won four.

We have one mission, and that one mission is to retire Andy Beshear from the governor's office.

And together, we can do that.

Together, we can make that happen.

Together we can have a better and brighter version of Kentucky together, we can make sure Kentucky has a governor who stands up to Washington and against Joe Biden.

Together, we can empower our teachers and prior to prioritize parents involvement in the educational opportunities of our kids.

Incumbent Governor Andy Beshear won in an expected landslide.

He received 91% of the vote in the Democratic primary.

He also called for the Commonwealth to come together as campaigning for the general election begins right now in every corner of our commonwealth.

What I see is hope and optimism, a belief in a brighter future and a commitment to get the job done.

Both Beshear and Cameron know this November's election is likely to be tight and they didn't waste any time taking shots at each other.

But in all seriousness, their commercials are a steady, dangerous drumbeat of fear and division.

Running Kentucky down, attacking our educators, our health care heroes, anyone that they can make the boogeyman.

That man, Andy Beshear, is resigned to live in a commonwealth where violent crime is high and the workforce participation rate is low.

He's content preside over the abandonment of our inner cities and the desolation of our rural communities.

Now that one election is done, another begins.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm K.C.

Parker Bell.

Thank you, Casey.

Today, Governor Andy Beshear announced a bus tour to kick off his general election campaign.

The tour begins with a stop in Paducah on Friday and ends with one in Newport on Sunday.

The governor will make 13 stops over three days.

Governor Bashir and Attorney General Daniel Cameron are not alone.

Our Laura Rogers tells us more of who you'll see down the ballot.

Former US Attorney Russell Coleman, a Republican, will face state Representative Pamela Stephenson, a Democrat for attorney general and November.

We asked each about their priorities.

If you look back at this year, most of the rules, most of the laws that we passed had little to do with Kentucky families.

Women had little to do with feeding.

Children, had little to do with protecting the elderly, had little to do with making life better for any Kentuckian.

Right.

So I thought, well, I've done it for the Air Force.

I've done it for America.

I will do it for Kentucky.

I will make sure that our system works for everyone.

From day one, the next attorney general needs to be focused on successfully transitioning the Child Support Employment Child Support Enforcement Program from the Cabinet to the AG's office.

Full implementation is not until 2025, but we're talking about a $500 million program.

The General Assembly estimates over $1,000,000,000 1.3 $1.4 billion in arrears.

That that's money that's not going to families, to single moms and kids that need it.

So the next stage needs to be laser beam focused.

Current Secretary of State Michael Adams cruised to victory in the Republican primary, receiving nearly 64% of the vote.

He will take on former two term Democratic state representative Buddy Wheatley, a retired fire chief from northern Kentucky.

Last night, Wheatley said the secretary of state could be doing more to increase voter turnout.

Meanwhile, Michael Adams said he thinks he's proven to voters that he shouldn't be fired, that we've accomplished more for our elections in four years than we did in the prior 200 years.

And I think especially we need a Republican that can work with a Republican legislature and change some minds and lead.

And I just don't think that it would make any sense to replace me with someone else.

I will work tirelessly for two full weeks of early voting that Kentucky's constitution allows our polls to be open till 7 p.m..

The Secretary of State is not closing the doors at 6 p.m..

Closing the doors on working Kentuckians who just want to vote.

Mark Metcalf easily won his Republican primary for treasurer.

He defeated two candidates who many considered to have more name recognition O.J.

Alaka and Andrew Cooper Rider.

Metcalf will take on Democrat Michael Bowman, who was unopposed in the primary.

Both candidates discussed their strategies for the fall campaign.

We made clear that Kentucky borrows too much and taxes too much.

It spends too much and it seems too little.

And that was our message.

I am someone who is here to be treasurer of the Commonwealth, who understands how best to look at our investments, how to handle our state's accounts, and to do that job effectively for the people of Kentucky.

Alison Ball, the outgoing state treasurer, won the Republican nomination for state auditor.

She tweeted this, quote, I am honored to be the Republican nominee for Kentucky state auditor.

I will bring the same watchdog mentality I used at the Treasury to the state auditor's office.

Her opponent will be Democrat Kimberly Reeder, a tax attorney.

Reader said, quote, The auditor's office shines a light on how our tax dollars are spent to make sure they aren't wasted or misused.

And when we get rid of waste and abuse, we have more resources to fund things that are important to Kentucky families, unquote.

Former State House Majority Leader Jonathan Shell is the Republican nominee for Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner.

He will take on Sierra Enloe, who won the Democratic nomination in her first ever election.

She said Kentucky's next AG commissioner needs to do more to help Kentucky farmers, while her competitor said he hopes to continue the success of the office's predecessors.

Kentucky farmers don't need a commissioner of agriculture to teach them how to farm.

They need an economic developer to create new markets and open new doors.

And that's exactly what I'll do.

We're going to put a hyper focus on ag production in the state of Kentucky.

What I want to do is to make sure that we're creating Kentucky jobs with Kentucky businesses that are refining, refinishing and processing our ag commodities in the state of Kentucky.

Kentucky's 2023 general election is November 7th, which is just 25 weeks away.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you, Laura.

In other election news, Republican Greg Elkins won a special election and state Senate district number 28 to fill the seat open when Senator Ralph Alvarado resigned to go to Tennessee.

And what forces won wet, dry elections in both Madison and Allen counties.

Time now to check in with our good friend Rowland Barden, who's managing editor of Kentucky Public Radio.

It's going to be mostly all about the governors primary that just ended Tuesday night, but we hope to sneak in a couple of other items.

Good to see you, Rylan.

Good to see you, too, Renee.

So we've heard a lot already about where things fell out on Tuesday night.

And even in this program today, we've had a nice synopsis of that.

But let's talk about where the candidates and the GOP gubernatorial primary where they performed.

Yeah.

Well, the candidate who spent the most money on the race, Kelly Craft, spent almost $10 million on the race, looked like the only county she really picked up fully were in South central Kentucky, kind of in Homer country, where First District Congressman Jamie Colmer had endorsed her campaign.

So she had some support there.

You actually looked on a precinct level map of the state.

You'll see that she actually had some support in Eastern Kentucky, but it wasn't ultimately the swinging, you know, swinging the counties there.

Ryan Corales, who is the second place finisher, he performed pretty well in central Kentucky.

And there was a little bit of support in western parts of the state.

And then really everything besides that was all Daniel Cameron.

He was picking up everywhere else in the state.

And and I think Republicans are really think that this is a good sign for him in his challenge to Governor Andy Beshear, because it seems like a lot of Republicans are already on board for his campaign.

So what does that mean about how he performed?

I guess if you look at the polls, he overperformed.

Based on those recent surveys.

What does that signal about how more formidable he will be against Andy Beshear?

Well, I think that a lot of the work of, you know, trying to unite the Republican Party is already kind of done.

You know, this this campaign did get a little nasty between, you know, the ad war between Cameron and Craft.

But I think that even as we saw last night, it doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of, you know, mortal wounds that that that candidates are having trouble getting over.

And I think we'll kind of see that there's just not I think a lot of Kentuckians or a lot of Kentucky Republicans are already kind of there for their candidate.

You know, Cameron's been in the public eye for the last four years of Boxer Miller with him a lot because of his challenges to Governor Beshear throughout the coronavirus pandemic, also because of his handling of the Breonna Taylor case in Louisville in 2020.

So those are I think, again, the effect of that is that the the signal change isn't going to be that drastic for a lot of the Republican electorate.

And I think that they're just going to really be trying to build on that as a as a challenge to this year for those who are the Republican Party faithful.

Yes, they are still maybe perhaps stand by Daniel Cameron.

But we did hear that there were some anecdotal tales of folks saying, you know, I'm a Republican, I voted for Daniel, but I really like Andy Beshear.

I like how he's handled the whether it was the pandemic or the natural disaster or crises, etc., that they really like him.

And so when we talk think about how character counts and how someone's disposition and demeanor during times of extreme crisis and challenge, perhaps that's going to give Andy Beshear the leg up.

Sure.

That's going to be put to the test.

And really some of Cameron's arguments, you know, over the coronavirus pandemic that's going to be put to the test, whether Kentuckians really hear about that on a statewide political level.

Is this something that they want to, you know, vote somebody out over?

Also, I think another effect of that is because of Kentucky's closed primary.

Sure, you had Republicans showing up, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to vote for whoever they vote for during primary day, during the general election.

That's just one point to throw out there.

But all of these, you know, these two candidates characters are going to be put to the test over the next six months or so.

And and we're going to we're going to see who kind of who comes out on top here.

So let's talk about the money, their return on the investment.

You're a colleague of Louisville Public Media.

Justin Hicks did a nice infographic that's been circulating on socials today about how much the candidates invested per voter.

And there's definitely a clear outlier here.

And so we're putting that image on the screen to see that Kelly Craft, according and I assume this was the expenditures from the report out of the last report from April the 18th.

So we know there's been other spending $184.50 per vote.

And.

WHEREAS, Daniel Cameron did $7.70 per vote.

Yeah.

I mean, that's what happens when you spend almost $10 million in a primary where you get third place in that primary.

And not many people are showing up to that primary in the first place.

So almost $10 million spent on the primary campaign and only 52,000 people showed up to vote for her.

So, yeah, that's it's a very different return on investment from the ultimate winner who's spending, you know, a little less than $8 per vote.

You spend a little more than $1 or $1 million on the campaign.

Almost 145,000 people showed up to vote for him.

This is just a it's one of those interesting things when I mean, I think the lesson from this all is that, you know, spending a whole lot of money on a campaign does not always win you an election.

It doesn't even always get you second place in election.

And that was so much of what Kelly Kraft's plan was in trying to get her message out there.

Because, you know, really a lot of people didn't necessarily know about her coming into coming into the race.

She flooded the airwaves.

And I think that, you know, one either people didn't get to know her as much as they thought or when they did, they didn't like the message.

You know, she went very hard on the anti-trans issue That became her kind of a central thing.

Anti-trans legislation that passed the legislature, but also, you know, going after Kentucky schools for being too woke or Kentucky Education policy for being too so-called woke.

So I think there are some lessons to be thought about and learned out of this campaign from that.

Yeah, certainly a case study for political scientists and junkies who really want to know how to dissect a political campaign.

Speaking when you're talking about the woke policies, let's really quick get in a mention about Education Commissioner Jason Glass.

I guess he's on the job search and he was a contender, possibly on the shorter list for a superintendency in Baltimore, Maryland.

But that didn't pan out, right?

We found out yesterday that he didn't ultimately get that job.

He was a finalist, but somebody else ended up getting it.

But the Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman, Tony Collins attached attachment, said that she's not that Dr. Glass is still looking for another job, but he's not at liberty to discuss what those options are.

Yeah, so we'll keep our eyes on that as it develops.

Thank you so much, Rhode Island.

It's always good to see you.

Take good care.

Thanks for naming.

And higher education news.

Dr. Kim Schwartzel was named the 19th president of the University of Louisville in February.

So what brought the new leader of Kentucky's Metropolitan Research University to the Bluegrass State?

Our Jim Polston sat down with Dr. Schatz all to first learn more about her, including how the university president was the first in her family to graduate from college.

According to the University of Louisville, fewer than 2% of university presidents have what they describe as significant private business sector leadership experience.

While a member of that 2% club is now the University of Louisville's president.

And she's here with us today.

Dr. Kim Schatz, thank you so much for being with us.

It's my pleasure to be here.

So we're going to dive into that business experience a little bit more later.

But to open I wanted to talk about you as an individual when I was reading up on you for this, a consistent theme I read over and over again is that at the end of the day, you're just a person who loves to learn.

Is that correct?

It absolutely does.

I mean, you know, I'm a first generation college student and I actually when I graduated from college, my first job was a second shift trim foreman making Pintos for Ford Motor Company.

And I always add the fact I was a foreman because I didn't have gender neutral titles back then.

They now call them production supervisors.

And in that first job, I had to tell you, you know, in a manufacturing plant, I didn't know what I was doing.

I had never worked in a manufacturing plant, been around that kind of work.

And I had a lot of people that helped me learn the types of skills that I had to be able to have, learn the type of equipment, the paperwork I had to fill out, how you got gloves and apron when you had to fill out a rack to be able to do it and to be able to just work as part of a team and understand that, you know?

And then from there I was in business and did work internationally in other countries, in other cultures.

And then came into higher education, got my Ph.D. at the age of 43, which was not typical.

And then from there, because of the fact that there was about 2000, this is when I got my Ph.D. and I was playing I'm being a faculty member.

And it was right about that time that the business model of higher education changed.

And instead of getting 80 to 90% of the funding from the state, it flip flopped in the fact that 89% came from tuition.

So someone with my skill sets added a different kind of value proposition.

And so I became a dean and the provost and a president.

And now I'm just thrilled to be to be here and be part of you as well.

I'm guessing you haven't encountered many other university presidents who started their career on an assembly line, is that correct?

I think probably it is.

And as you said, only 2% have had significant C-suite experience.

And I was the CEO of a multinational advanced manufacturing company.

We were the largest powdered metal supplier in the United States, and I served in that role for five years.

So the business experience that I had really taught me a lot about building teams, having goals and plans to be able to advance.

And it really adds a lot to my leadership style.

And that amazing experience really to me is is punctuated by the fact, as you kind of mentioned in passing a little bit earlier, you're the first generation in your family to go to college.

That's a remarkable part of your story.

It really is.

You know, I actually try in every event I go to where I talk to an audience to say that I am a first generation college student and then ask the audience, how many of you were first generation college students?

And I would say that, you know, a third to a half to three quarters of the audience raises their hand.

And it's not something that people talk about, about themselves, you know, So I talk about the fact that, you know, being the first in that is a challenge because you don't have as my children didn't have parents that can tell you, you know, this is what Gen Z is.

This is what you need to take in your first semester.

Don't forget the fact that if you major, take a look at your junior year filling out a fast four.

How do you do that?

How do you register?

What do I have to take if I'm going to go in a residence hall and going through that?

And if you come home with your first see the fact that your parents could say, I did the same thing when I was a freshman, that's okay.

It's all part of adapting.

So being the first in that and pioneering that and also inspiring, you know, your cousins, your brothers and sisters, you know, family members to able to pursue a college education, It's a big deal.

Yeah, it really is.

Well, Chip, we'll have more from Dr. Schatz tomorrow night as she talks about her track record on helping students succeed with lessons she learned in the business world.

Images of trauma are often unpleasant, but one Louisville photographer is using his lens to show the strength of those who have survived traumatic experiences.

That's tonight's Tapestry, our weekly look at arts and culture that sort of photographing.

I was 16.

It's taught me to see the world differently and it's to give me some access to some things that I wouldn't normally have access to.

It was it was probably 2016 or 2017 when we kind of came up with the idea that we wanted to do more for survivors.

I think people need to see more about their stories.

The subjects are survivors of trauma, be it, you know, gunshot violence, motor vehicle accident, burns.

And it's just about their survival.

And, you know, where they are now With the partnership with the trauma center, you have a hospital.

We would see them come in and then it's really usually all you hear after the recovery.

You don't really hear hear from them again.

And so I pitched the idea to do an essay on the survivors.

And there's they're are incidents and where you know their lives post trauma most people are pretty receptive to it.

A lot of people really want it to be to be part part of it, because I think they they understand that, you know, people don't understand their trauma past like the news story or, you know, past, you know, their own telling of the story.

It's so much more than that, though.

Some of those stories are incredible to hear the all of the.

Oh, I kind of have a have a part of me now.

You know, we photograph 16 people over the last three or four years.

But I mean, I remember the details from each one.

But Evan was a he was like 16.

He was at work and a dump truck rolled back into him and pushed him to another truck.

And, you know, it caused some major internal damage in his torso.

He lost organs and he's on dialysis now.

But you just see where he's at two years later.

He's 18 now and he's still working there.

He's, you know, wants to lead his life.

That's, you know, different than what he had before.

But he wants to use his trauma to better himself.

Some of the gunshot, like Janay Rice was pregnant and she was shot on her front porch, like leaving or walking into her house in the baby survived because, like, you know, it was a it was a close call.

Olivia was she was she was a gunshot victim as well.

And she had she was expressing that she hopes the person who shot her doesn't like doesn't lead his life the same way afterward.

And she like, I was like, do you forgive him?

And she's like, I forgive him.

It changes you.

I was able to meet Valentino Boyd, who was shot by her ex White on Park, and her people who just saved her life or pain pick a ball and they ran to her aid after he fled the scene.

But we were able to find her.

The people who people who rescued her through social media, basically through the Super Bowl community.

So like that, that was a connection that she needed for, I think for her healing that she didn't have.

But it's been very meaningful to to do this.

It means it's been it's it's changed the way I see things and I hope it like it helps people do the same thing.

I hope it helps that.

I hope that it helps them be more empathetic toward people were victims or, you know, it's just it's been really incredible what compelling work and stories.

Scott Perry's photographs will be on display at a celebration of trauma survivors tonight at the University of Louisville Medical Center.

Perry said he's currently looking for other venues to display the photographs.

Some parts of Kentucky they may doctors Pike County owners, is setting up shop in eastern Kentucky.

She says it's payback for the people who helped her become a doctor.

We'll have her story for you tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition, along with part two of Paulson's interview with Dr. Schatz, old, who is the new president of the University of Louisville.

You don't want to miss that.

That will all be for you tomorrow night at 630 Eastern, 530 Central on Kentucky Edition, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

We hope you all subscribe to our email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips at Ket.org You can also find us on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV, and we hope you'll send us a story idea at Public Affairs at KET.org and follow us all the way As you see on the screen, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you're more than welcome to follow me on Twitter at Renee KET, thank you so much for watching and for being with us last night for our Primary 2023 coverage.

Wall to Wall.

We appreciate your viewership and your loyalty to Katie.

And I will see you right back here again tomorrow night.

Take good care.