primary candidates start their pushes toward November.

After his defeat, Congressman Thomas Massie filed papers to become a candidate for federal office in 2028.

But for what?

A Kentucky state House race is decided by just five votes.

A Bitcoin mining company plans a large data center in eastern Kentucky.

[MUSIC] Finally, a weekend to dry out from all the rain.

And it also takes us to June and comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant and we welcome you to on Kentucky.

A look back at and some analysis of.

And the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are Hannah Pinski political reporter for the Lexington Herald leader, Isaiah Kim Martinez, political reporter for WHAS11 in Louisville and Keely Doll state politics.

Reporter for the Courier-Journal.

Also tonight, interim meetings begin next week, looking ahead to the 2027 legislative session, if you can believe it.

Well, let's dive right into politics right now.

Congressman Thomas Massie, who lost his reelection bid in the primary, turned right around and filed to become a candidate for federal office in 2028.

But he won't say what he might run for.

>> I will not rule out anything.

And right now, I'm not going to rule in anything.

Look, I've spent the last five days on my farm with my grandkids and my cattle and my peach trees, and it's a pretty nice life.

I don't know if I want to screw that up again.

I'll take some time and decide what's next, but I think I will stay engaged in some way or shape.

Maybe it's from the outside.

I've been exposing what's going on in Washington DC for years, and I'll keep doing it.

>> So Isaiah Massie lost his seat to Ed Gallrein in that primary, but it was Massie who was making the national TV appearances and talking about what he might do next.

>> Sure.

We actually have some data, data analytics from our own website and, you know, sort of search traffic.

It was all Thomas Massie after that election.

Knott Ed Gallrein.

And that concession speech may have been the most notable thing to come out of that night.

Outside of the results, you know, we call it a concession speech.

Congressman Massie actually said that he went into it believing he was going to keep it rather short and to the point, but he said that the crowd there essentially wouldn't let that happen.

He actually said he called it a victory, even though we lost, is what he said.

He said he didn't expect the crowd to start chanting 2028.

Of course, presidential year.

He's not ruling anything out at this point, and he's left pretty much his options wide open by filing that statement of candidacy.

So, you know, anything could happen pretty much at this point.

>> And I think the reason why he's able and he says he's going to leave options open.

So like Isaiah said, 2028 presidential run could he run in Kentucky's gubernatorial election next year?

Is he has built a strong coalition of lawyers, loyal supporters, not just in Kentucky but across the country.

When I was at his watch party last week, I met with a couple of people who traveled from Texas, who traveled from California, not only to attend the party, but to also go door knocking for Massie in a state that they can vote for.

And the reason why he's built such a strong, loyal base of supporters is because he is seen as this leader of the liberty movement in northern Kentucky, and he's had this unique streak in Congress of, you know, staying true to his personal beliefs, often going against the Republican Party on bills relating to debt, stuff that would increase the national debt, sending money and foreign aid.

So it will be interesting to see how he uses, you know, this loyal base as to potentially build something into another campaign heading into 2028.

>> Kelly you had noted that a few weeks ago it sounded like he was.

He said, going to the farm if he lost the primary.

It doesn't sound like that anymore.

>> Yeah, there's definitely been a tone shift, I think, and you could see that even in his concession speech when the crowd started chanting 2828 I think it's also really interesting about the coalition he's built and about the national conversation around this race, is that you've seen a lot of non-republican voters, young Democratic voters, just young, maybe independents.

>> Young Republicans as well.

>> And young Republicans as well, get really interested in Thomas Massie, I think partially because he kind of bucks the establishment or the Trump agenda.

And so it'll be interesting to see if he does run for a larger office, what kind of coalition of voters he'll build.

Then?

>> One of the touchiest things he said in the interview to which he may not have said, this pre-primary is he sort of said, the boomers are not going to be around forever.

And it was one of those moments you sort of hold your like, what is what is he trying to say?

Essentially, he was like, the younger generation is going to eventually be the ones who are sort of, you know, pushing the Republican movement.

Those were some of the strongest comments I thought he.

>> Made was the older voters who defeated him.

>> Exactly.

The ones who voted for Gallrein Hannah.

>> One thing to make clear, though, he cannot run as an independent this year, right?

>> No.

Took a deep dive into Kentucky election law after seeing some folks online say they would love to see him run as an independent or a write in candidate for the fourth Congressional District.

There are two things that prevent him from doing so.

One is that Massie can't run as an independent for either the Fourth Congressional District or even for the U.S.

Senate race, because he is a registered member of the Republican Party and he can't run as a write in candidate either for the fourth Congressional District, because Kentucky does have a sore loser law that says, you know, if you lose the primary election, you cannot run in the general for the same office right now.

And he is not expressed interest or said he will do this, is that he could potentially run as a write in candidate in the U.S.

Senate race.

I think he has until some time in August to decide if he's doing so.

But like I said, he is not expressed interest in that.

He is not saying anything about it.

It's just one of the doors right now that's technically still open.

>> You would think Isaiah, if he did, that could deprive Barr of some votes, right?

>> I mean, that could shake up everything because a lot of those loyal Matthew supporters, I mean, could suddenly Charles Booker be more in play, even in Republicans minds?

Where does that lead sort of the fundraising on a national level?

I mean, it could totally, you know, break up some of the the hard Republican voters that, you know, they largely see this primary as the general election in the Senate race.

>> You've talked to a former Democratic congressman, John Yarmuth, who analyzed the fourth district outcome.

He he talked about Massie.

He said he didn't agree with him on many policies at all, but he liked him personally.

He also talked about how people so identify these days with party affiliation.

Let's take a listen to that interview.

>> Something's happened in the country that I don't really understand, but it's pretty clear that it's happening, and that is people's political partizan identity has become a very important part of their individual identity.

That's that's a very new phenomenon in this country.

And it's it's I think it's extremely damaging.

>> So that was a podcast that Isaiah that you hosted.

And it is interesting that both sides these days feel this polarization.

And certainly the independents do.

They may go either way.

>> Yeah.

I mean, John Yarmuth really pointed to the fact that when he first was getting into sort of the political sphere, it used to be this political partizan identity was, you know, list number, point number 15.

As far as how he identifies himself, he sort of joked that I say, what high school I went to before that, whether I'm a UK or U of L fan now, he says it is like 1 or 2 for most people.

He says Republicans sometimes come up to him and say, hey, I'm a Republican, but I agree with what you're doing here.

It's almost this point of you're almost playing for the other team.

And it's interesting that that is the number one thing I heard from voters out when it came to this fourth congressional race.

Massie versus Gallrein is they said, listen, Massie is just not a team player when he needs to be.

Yarmouth's point is, it didn't used to be the team player aspect didn't used to hold such a heavy, heavy weight for folks in split ticket voting is way down as well.

>> My career of over 40 years in Kentucky politics, it was there was a lot of bipartisanship.

>> Yeah.

And we still see that in the state legislature today.

When a Democrat votes with a Republican, Republican votes with a Democrat, it doesn't make news, but it does nationally.

>> All right.

So that's where we are with the fourth district scenario at this point.

Now, candidates who did win are off and running their campaigns for the fall.

And Kelly, what are we seeing in the U.S.

Senate race, where Republican Congressman Andy Barr faces former state House member Charles Booker?

One issue that seems to have emerged very quickly is the expansion of the U.S.

Supreme Court, which Booker favors and Barr opposes.

>> Yeah, they're pretty diametrically opposed on this, as they are with most issues.

Booker's position is something that we've seen growing in the progressive left is that there should be more seats on the Supreme Court, especially as it's trended a little more conservative over the years.

Of course, the Supreme Court is not Partizan, but it is always political.

And conservatives and Republicans say that that is directly against the tenets of the Constitution and the way that our systems were founded.

So Andy Barr is very, very strongly against this.

>> We've seen Charles Booker bring this up back in the wake of Roe v Wade, that the Dobbs decision when Charles Booker was running for Rand Paul seat.

I mean, he talked about how he believes there needs to be more ideological balance, bring more justices in.

It's interesting, though, because he tweeted about this.

Charles Booker did back on like May 15th, 12 days later, you see a response come in from Andy Barr's X page.

And he says, this is what's at stake in this election, and said that Charles Booker wants to reject our founding principles, went on to say, transform our country into a place we do not recognize as our Doug Proffitt at WHS11 said after reading.

That is, the gloves are off at this point.

I mean, they are going to be going at it and this is just the beginning.

>> I'm sure that's well said by Doug and you.

All right.

Whoever wins the US Senate race will be replacing Senator Mitch McConnell, who now sees the horizon after his 42 year Senate career.

He talked about what that might look like with some reporters this week in Edmonson County, where he was there to announce some water upgrades.

>> I think I'm going to still be involved in Kentucky.

Try to be helpful, probably have an office at the McConnell center at U of L and be available to these guys at the state level and federal level.

If they're interested in having a speaker from time to time.

I'm interested in doing that.

>> It's just, I don't know, strange to hear Senator McConnell talk about retirement, isn't it.

>> 40 plus years?

I mean, a lot of folks probably just didn't think about this day coming.

We know he's been on a bit of a legacy tour.

Wright really touting those investments that he's brought across the state.

And of course, defense has been such a big part of it, Fort Knox, things of that nature.

But ultimately, I mean, the question here, and a big reason why Congressman Barr got so much support, is there is a belief that while no one can do what McConnell, as far as clout is concerned right off the bat, as far as bringing money back to the state, Congressman Barr is considered, as far as Republicans are concerned, the closest to that as far as the relationships he's built on Capitol Hill.

>> I'm interested to see how involved he stays specifically with Kentucky politics.

I think throughout his tenure, tenure, and you'll hear people like Senator Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers say this is that McConnell built the Republican Party here in Kentucky.

And, you know, he's done a lot of fundraising.

He's done a lot of campaign donations.

So, you know, once he does leave office, I'll be interested to see if he does do continues that similar thing.

If he, you know, invests more, if he takes a step back, that's something I'll keep an eye on.

>> Well, he steered tens of billions of dollars to Kentucky, and it's a tall order for any successor to to match that certainly.

>> I also think it will be interesting to see what he does with endorsements.

We've seen a lot of outgoing Republican leaders kind of shirk the president's agenda once they know that their time is limited.

So it'll be interesting to see where he lands on upcoming endorsements, especially in the 2027 gubernatorial race.

And then also just what he does with his time in Congress.

>> I think that six congressional I think he's going to be working behind the scenes on that to to make sure Ralph Alvarado gets elected.

>> Well, let's talk about that race.

A nice shift.

Hannah Governor Beshear endorsed Democrat Zach Dembo in the sixth district U.S.

House race.

It has been a Republican district for a long time.

And as Isaiah mentioned, Ralph El Dorado is the GOP nominee.

>> Yes, Beshear has endorsed Stumbo, I believe had worked for the Beshear administration.

So, you know, the the two have had close ties together.

What Bashir has not done yet is endorsed Charles Booker yet in the Senate race back in 2022, when he ran against Rand Paul, Booker did receive an endorsement from Beshear.

I don't think it's anything we should read into.

You know, this early on in the head of the general election, I think, what with the context of the sixth Congressional District, is that Democrats, both in Kentucky and on a national level, see this as a flippable district.

So, you know, coming off the bat with having a strong Kentucky Democrat like Governor Beshear endorsed, the candidate could be the first step in what we see of many to flip that district in the upcoming election.

>> Could we for a moment, though, not to speculate, but Congressman McGarvey did endorse Charles Booker and for his him being a member in Congress, like McGarvey is, he's leaning into the progressive coalition because right now they want fighters.

And he's clearly trying to sort of add to that element, sort of to his resume.

Governor Beshear, if he were to run for president in 2028.

>> If you say.

>> If likely some might folks might say you could tell he might not want to attach himself potentially to someone who is considered or seen to be at the most progressive wing of his party.

If he's trying to theoretically get moderates, Republicans to be on his side.

>> To your point about McGarvey, he introduced legislation to provide a guaranteed tax credit of $500 a month to 18 to 24 year olds already.

>> We know that 18 to 24 year olds, 1 in 4 of them, are going hungry.

Too many of them can't afford rent, can't afford to have a roof over their head.

We know 50% of Americans don't have access to $500 cash.

It's even worse for our young adults, and that's why we want to come up with a policy that works.

>> Kelly McGarvey is essentially looking to take a Louisville program national.

He says young adults are really up against it in the current economy.

>> Yeah, I think that's something that we've seen.

But there's a lot of hurdles to take a program like this national, especially because the program itself wasn't a $500 tax credit.

It was $500 a month given to students, which does do really well.

Half of them used it for education or training.

It reduced eviction rates by 70%.

So it has had success.

And it also targets a key group, which is young voters.

But it's an uphill battle to get him there.

>> He has tried to pass this in the past couple of years ago, notes that he sort of has learned some things from there, but you get the sense that even if it doesn't pass, it's sort of the messaging is seemingly almost just as important in a midterm year.

>> All right, let's shift our focus from our Washington delegation to Frankfort now.

And a democratic socialist will be joining the Republican dominated state House next January.

Seventh grade teacher Robert Levertis Bell of Louisville is set to make history after winning the Democratic primary.

>> People no longer see socialism as this big, bad, scary thing.

They see it as possibly the people who are going to come in and make their lives better.

>> All right, so I say.

Bell says he can even work with Republicans on some issues.

>> Yeah, and that comment right there, I know there could be a lot of Republicans out there to be like, rolling their eyes.

Like, no way.

I mean, it is worth noting that this democratic socialist movement is still the hyper hyper minority nationwide.

But in this state and in Louisville specifically, there is a democratic socialist on the Metro Council.

So the clearly, for Democratic primary voters, there's been a bit of a movement here.

And to your question, he did say that he has already spoken with Republicans who are supportive of his effort to, you know, increase funding in schools.

Obviously, once he gets to the state legislature, folks like Jason Nemes and those in Frankfort say, you know, we're willing to work with him.

We just want to see how he acts as a lawmaker first before making any judgments.

>> And he's unopposed in the fall, right?

Yes.

So he'll be replacing Pamela Stephenson, who came up short and running for the Democratic U.S.

Senate nomination.

Will we hear from Stephenson again?

>> Well, in her concession post on Facebook, she said that she's looking to continue the work so I wouldn't count her out yet.

I haven't personally spoken with her about her plans or what she plans to do going forward.

But there's still the interim, which is, you know, we could see some of these people who have lost out on their primaries or chosen not to run again, see what their plans are and what they'll do going forward.

>> We'll try to talk about the interim just a little bit here tonight.

But a Louisville area House race was decided by just five votes, and that was confirmed by a Recanvass.

Kenya Wade reacted to the confirmation of her win over Beverly Chester Burton.

>> I really feel like the people of district 44 spoke that it was clear.

So I'm just really ready to get to work about two things and the policies that I ran on.

>> And Kelly, what a cliffhanger, right?

Five votes.

>> Yeah, that was when we were watching pretty closely because all three candidates, it was, you know, Beverly Chester Burton has the political experience.

She was previously mayor, mayor of Shively and Kenya Wade, although she's a social worker and a CEO of a nonprofit, she doesn't have that same political experience, but she has a lot of support within her district.

So it was something we were really looking at.

So it'll be interesting to see what she does and also how this just changes how the minority caucus moves going forward without some of these longtime incumbents like Stevenson and Beverly Chester Burton.

>> We noted last week there will be, I think, 18 or 19 new county judge executives across the state in Madison County's new judge executive will likely be a Republican.

There's no Democratic candidate, and Donna Agee would become the first woman to lead one of the state's fastest growing counties.

AG is proud of that and noted that Martha Layne Collins inspired her public service.

>> I was inspired to to vote by Martha Layne Collins listening to her speak.

I just watched her funeral on KET I. I have been inspired by so many strong women mentors and I'm just really proud of that, and I hope it speaks to all of the women across the state, across, you know, our country, to say it's okay to to put your hat in the ring, it's okay to step out and be that first woman is just a blessing to me.

>> So it is interesting to note that women are still having to break those barriers in politics and, and try to inspire others as, as AG was saying there, and that she credits Democrat Martha Layne Collins.

She's a Republican.

>> Martha Layne Collins, I think has been seen as an inspiration to a lot of women here in Kentucky politics.

For example, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman referenced her when she launched her gubernatorial campaign as someone, you know, who was a real trailblazer here in Kentucky politics as a woman, and hopes to follow suit as well.

And I believe she had also defeated incumbent for the judge executive, which I think it's fair to say is a difficult thing to do.

So, you know, that's history right here, and it will be fun to see what she accomplishes here in her position.

>> All right.

We will be doing that.

Governor Andy Beshear heading to what Iowa and South Carolina.

>> And it's hard to keep up.

>> All over.

>> In Alabama.

>> To Alabama.

That was last weekend stumping for good.

His trips possibly have a dual purpose.

>> I mean you.

>> Want to take this one Kallage Kelly or Hannah.

I'm sure we're all thinking the same thing.

>> We don't want to throw anybody into any races, but.

>> Right.

>> I mean, specifically with Iowa, he'll be there to campaign for Democratic candidate for governor, Rob sand.

I think Iowa is particularly interesting because they do have an early primary in the 2020 presidential race.

And one could say, you know, success in an early primary state determines whether or not you continue the campaign going forward.

So this won't be Beshear's first time in Iowa.

I believe he's been there a couple of times as well.

But, you know, with him traveling to these different states, for example, with Iowa, he's saying he's going there on behalf as chair of the DGA, you know, if Rob Stein wins, if these other candidates that Democrat governor candidates he's going for when those are just, you know, more things to add of his to his resume of look, I helped a particularly red state elect a Democratic governor.

And that could be appealing, you know, in a 2028 presidential campaign.

>> Yeah, his.

>> Message is going to be more tested, you know, not in the Democratic stronghold.

>> We keep sprinkling in the 2027 races.

Kelly right now, Jacqueline Coleman, Democrat only candidate officially in the race, right?

>> Yeah, she's the only one we've seen so far.

Obviously, she's very tied to Beshear's administration.

We're expecting obviously more to throw their hat in the ring.

It might be a crowded race come next year, but she's the only one we've seen so far.

>> All right.

There could be as many as 30 data centers I in Kentucky, the Kentucky Lantern reporting a lack of strict regulations and cheap energy costs make Kentucky a prime target for companies looking to set up facilities.

Apparently, LG and EKU said they have about 29 potential projects that are at least being looked at.

Other data centers proposed in western Kentucky and an industrial site near Ashland, Isaiah.

That one got a lot of attention this week.

>> It's all over, and the communities that we've seen have largely pushed back on it, right?

I mean, we've had lawmakers across both ends of the political spectrum.

The governor has weighed in on this, basically saying the single most important thing is that ratepayers don't, you know, sort of bear the brunt of this, right?

With all the energy use and water use and everything that needs to support these data centers?

I think what's interesting though, is regulations, right?

That the state, at least some state lawmakers have tried to pass, did not make it through in this past legislative session.

So we're sort of seeing maybe those the collision course for that and potentially next year.

That could be top priority.

>> The final report came out this week on the 2024 fatal explosion at a Louisville manufacturing plant.

It made the recommendations about jaivardhan.

>> Yeah.

And that plan obviously killed two people, injured others.

They were employees who were 40ft from the blast last.

That was the detail.

We got harrowing details from the report and ultimately it confirmed what we knew from the initial report is that the the emergency pressure relief valve that was supposed to essentially work when the vessel itself got overpressurized.

It did not, and it led to the explosion.

>> Kentucky legislative leaders are out talking about some of the accomplishments of the session that ended in April.

Senate President Robert Stivers was in his home area talking about Eastern Kentucky swinging bridges.

>> Years ago, a lot of people traveled the edges of the rivers to get places, but when the river got up, you couldn't get across them.

So it was your method of getting from one side of the river to the other side, because the bridges would either be washed out or underwater.

>> Still important for folks to get around up there, and then folks go to see them.

So this legislation, Senate Bill 261, gives some protections to those who rely on.

>> Yeah, it essentially in Kelly and I were both there across four different bridges over there.

Did we did we were there in Clay County and.

>> Down through the.

>> Holes, which was important to say.

Oneida.

Oneida.

Yes.

The legislation that passed, you know, a lot of these bridges are sort of in no man's land, you know, private property over here, public property over here.

This would allow the locals to be able to fund maintenance for it and restoration.

>> Okay, a few seconds left.

What will Kentucky lawmakers likely focus on in those interim meetings start next week?

>> Well, the three top things we've heard is housing, because there was that big bill that did not pass right at the end.

Energy and then data centers.

That's a big talking point for voters and also the legislature.

>> Some traffic changes are coming with the closure of I-65 for some weeks, and that is set to start on Monday.

>> It feels like Armageddon.

>> In Louisville.

People are ready for that.

>> It's the important thing.

Does everyone know about it?

And I think that is always the number one thing because it's a two month closure.

It needs to happen.

I mean, decades long, you know, the aging structures, their aging bridges.

But ultimately it's going to be a pain in hospitals, businesses, they're all adjusting.

>> All right.

Hannah you didn't go on the swinging bridge, so be sure to avoid the interstate over there too.

>> Oh, no.

This is one of those moments where I'm glad I'm not in Louisville.

>> There you go.

>> And you were for a time.

Yeah.

All right.

Bluegrass airport in Lexington.

Expanding to meet increasing travel demands.

The airport announced this week it will invest in a multi year plan that will include a new terminal that can handle more and larger planes.

There also be a new control tower and other upgrades.

And there is that new logo.

And U.S.

smokeless tobacco is planning to shift production from a plant in Nashville to a facility in Kentucky.

The new 270,000 square foot facility is to be built in Hopkinsville, and that would create more than 200 Kentucky jobs once it's operational.

That's common on Kentucky.

Thank you for joining us and have a good week ahead.