Mitch McConnell: 'All indications are' Andy Beshear will be Kentucky governor

Morgan Watkins | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky governor race 2019: Andy Beshear delivers acceptance speech Matt Bevin told Republicans that he was not conceding to Andy Beshear

GHENT, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Monday he isn’t going to give Gov. Matt Bevin advice on whether he should concede to Democrat Andy Beshear, but “all indications are” Kentucky will have a new governor next month.

McConnell, R-Ky., spoke briefly with reporters about the fallout from last week’s statewide election when he visited North American Stainless in Carroll County, where he celebrated the passage of a treaty with Spain earlier this year that saved the company millions in taxes.

McConnell said he was sorry Bevin came up short by about 5,000 votes in his race for reelection, but he had a good four years.

“And I think all indications are, barring some dramatic reversal on a recanvass, that we’ll have a different governor in three weeks,” the Senate majority leader said.

More: Senate president says Bevin should concede election if recanvass doesn't alter vote totals

Beshear's inauguration is set for Dec. 10.

When asked if he thought Bevin should concede if Thursday's recanvass doesn’t show any change in the vote totals, McConnell said: “I’m not going to give the governor advice about that.”

He did, however, note that his first election was decided by a similarly thin margin.

“My first election was almost exactly the same number of votes that Beshear won by,” he said. “We had a recanvass, they added them up, it didn’t change and we all moved on.”

A recanvass is essentially a recheck of the vote totals in each county.

As for what Bevin’s loss means for McConnell’s own reelection bid next year, the longtime senator didn’t make any concrete predictions.

“Well, we’ll find out, because the 2020 election’s underway already,” he told reporters.

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He fielded a few more questions related to next year’s election and was careful to point out that Kentucky Democrats still have to pick a nominee.

“The Democrats haven’t had a primary yet,” he said. “We’ll see who the opponent is.”

“We know which one has a lot of money,” he added, in an apparent reference to Amy McGrath, a Democrat and former Marine who hopes to run against McConnell next November.

Recent federal fundraising data showed McGrath had raised more money than McConnell in 2019, based on their campaigns’ financial hauls through Sept. 30.

McGrath brought in more than $10.7 million since she entered the race in July, according to information posted by the Federal Election Commission. That outstrips the approximately $7.5 million McConnell brought in this year through Sept. 30, although he still has the edge in overall fundraising.

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As for Matt Jones, the well-known Kentucky Sports Radio host who has been floated as a possible competitor in the 2020 Senate race, McConnell said Monday his campaign wasn’t involved in getting Jones booted off his television or radio shows.

Jones announced last week that iHeart Radio had asked him not to be on the air in the near future in light of a complaint the Republican Party of Kentucky filed against him with the FEC.

That complaint accused Jones of “serious violations” of various regulations, but Jones hasn’t formally declared himself a candidate in the race to unseat McConnell and called the complaint “absolute nonsense.”

Earlier this year, a Lexington TV station decided to have Jones take a leave of absence from his hosting duties on the show “Hey Kentucky!” while he considered whether to run in the primary that will determine which Democrat faces McConnell next fall.

The station’s decision came shortly after McGrath announced she’d enter the race.

“He wasn’t pulled off anything by the McConnell campaign, either his TV show or his radio show,” the Senate majority leader told reporters Monday morning.

He also said: “I’ll be happy to run against whoever wins the nomination.”

Before he spoke to reporters Monday about last week's gubernatorial election and next year's Senate race, McConnell chatted with employees at North American Stainless about the treaty with Spain, for which he provided crucial support.

North American Stainless is a subsidiary of a company based in Spain.

At Monday's event, a company executive thanked the Senate majority leader for his successful push to get the treaty approved, saying businesses like this one “found a champion in Mitch McConnell.”

The executive also announced plans to invest around $30 million in North American Stainless’ Kentucky operation — an investment he said was made possible by McConnell's efforts. (Getting the Spain treaty passed has been credited with saving the business about $35 million.)

McConnell told the crowd at the stainless steel operation in Ghent that his role in ensuring the treaty's passage underscores why it's important that he serves as one of the country's top four congressional leaders — and is the only one who isn't from New York or California.

"My job is to look out for Middle America, and my favorite state in Middle America happens to be Kentucky," he told the folks gathered in Ghent that morning.

Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @morganwatkins26. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/morganw.