Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate James Comer casts his vote. Kentucky GOP primary too close to call In the gubernatorial race, Matt Bevin and James Comer are fewer than 100 votes apart.

The bitter Kentucky Republican gubernatorial primary is going into overtime.

Businessman Matt Bevin edged state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer by only 83 votes — less than a tenth of a percentage point of the more than 214,000 votes cast — with all precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.


Comer quickly declared his intent to request a recanvass, which will give election officials a chance to check their math. If he wants a full recount, Kentucky law requires him to post a bond to support the cost. The expected influx of absentee and military ballots could further complicate the process.

“I told Matt Bevin that if this recanvass doesn’t work out, I will gladly stand with you,” Comer told supporters Tuesday night. “I will walk with you door-to-door at every house in this state to help get you elected to be governor. But it’s so close.”

It was a stunning turn after Sen. Rand Paul and a third rival for the nomination, Louisville businessman Hal Heiner, had already congratulated Bevin on winning. Local news outlets had also begun calling the race for Bevin early in the night, when he led by several thousand votes.

“I called Matt Bevin, congratulating him on his victory, pledged my support on the fall campaign and said I need you to beat Jack Conway,” Heiner said in a concession speech. Paul, after largely staying out of the race, threw his support behind Bevin. “Congratulations to @MattBevin. I look forward to helping him become Governor!” Paul tweeted, though he later deleted the message.

While Bevin and Comer wrangle over the final vote tally, Democrat Jack Conway, the state attorney general who cruised to his party’s nomination on Tuesday, will await the results of the recanvass — and potentially a full recount.

For Democrats, the stakes are high. After a Republican wave in 2014 also swept out Democratic administrations in blue states Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois, the party saw their control of governor’s mansions dwindle to just 18 out of 50. A loss in Kentucky would put the party near its historical nadir and come as Democrats are hoping to regain their footing heading into 2016.

In remarks to his supporters Tuesday night, Bevin spoke like a man already planning on moving onto the general election. Though he never declared victory outright, he talked about traversing the state in “the months ahead” and laid out a general election platform loaded with language intended to appeal across the aisle.

“I am calling out to everyone in this state. I don’t care what party you are. I don’t care what campaign you have been a part of … I am calling on you tonight to join us in this effort,” he said, invoking former President Ronald Reagan as he described “morning in Kentucky.”

Though Bevin maintained a lead as vote totals poured in from Louisville, the Cincinnati suburbs and eastern Kentucky, Comer slowly crept up as rural western Kentucky vote totals trickled in. Later in the evening, Comer started closing the gap rapidly as the farming communities that support him started to report their totals, and he took the lead as the final few dozen precincts reported.

For Comer, it was a remarkable turnaround, just three weeks after an ex-girlfriend, Marilyn Thomas, accused him of physically and emotionally abusing her when they dated in college. The allegations threw the primary into turmoil, and Bevin sought to capitalize on the spat by presenting himself as an issues-focused, family-oriented conservative.

Meanwhile, Comer allies, infuriated by the personal controversy, painted the story as a smear pushed by Heiner — and Comer’s supporters said they were hopeful the allegations would actually fire up their supporters.

Comer’s lead was largely built on his strength in rural western Kentucky. Bevin ran up huge margins in the Cincinnati suburbs, while Heiner won by 20 percentage points in vote-rich Louisville.

If Bevin, a businessman who largely self-funded his campaign, survives the recanvass, he’ll face his biggest test: appealing to a general electorate. Establishment Republicans in Kentucky have feared that Bevin’s tea party roots would make him less electable among voters who have traditionally chosen Democrats for state offices.

And he has problems in his own party, too. Many of those supporting Comer and Heiner were McConnell allies infuriated about Bevin’s ill-fated 2014 challenge, in which he ripped McConnell frequently as an ally of President Barack Obama and an enemy of conservatives.

That discord has heartened Democrats, who believe Bevin’s damaged reputation could help them hang onto the governorship, which they’ve held for 36 of the last 40 years. Democrats are already gearing up to paint Bevin as extreme for his criticisms of Head Start and gay marriage. They also have a ready-made trove of criticisms that Republicans themselves hurled at Bevin over the last year.

The GOP quest for the nomination collapsed into turmoil in the final two weeks when Comer’s ex-girlfriend Marilyn Thomas accused him of physically and emotionally abusing her when they dated in college.

Bevin capitalized on the spat by presenting himself as an issues-focused, family-oriented conservative. He talked up his humble upbringing in New Hampshire and military service to present himself as the best option to take on Conway, who only faced token opposition in the Democratic primary.

Establishment Republicans have worried that Bevin is the actually the party’s weakest option against Conway, suggesting he escaped serious scrutiny while his opponents focused on each other and never had to answer for the flaws that sank his Senate campaign — including revelations he attended a rally for cockfighting supporters. Bevin suggested at the time that he was unaware of the purpose of the rally.

“Matt Bevin’s cockfighting episode will go down in history as one of the most disqualifying moments in Kentucky political history,” a McConnell spokeswoman said last year.

Bevin further infuriated McConnell — now the Senate majority leader — when he refused to explicitly endorse him after the primary. Bevin has brushed off suggestions that he was a sore loser and said he expects McConnell to back him as the nominee.

“The only reason people would not unite behind the candidate that we put forward would be due to pettiness and divisiveness driven by things that are not in the best interests of the party,” Bevin said at a campaign rally in Lexington last week.

Bevin largely ran his campaign as a full-throated conservative, promising to dismantle Kentucky’s Obamacare exchange and end its Medicaid expansion. He also pitched himself as best qualified to handle Kentucky’s $34 billion unfunded pension liability, citing his experience as a pension fund manager. He’s pledged to end the state’s adoption of Common Core education standards.

His win was largely built on his strength in the Cincinnati suburbs, where he ran up huge margins that his opponents never overcame. Though Heiner won by 20 percentage points in vote-rich Louisville and Comer won big in rural western Kentucky, neither could match Bevin’s strength in populous Boone County and its neighbors.

Bevin seems to relish upending expectations and poking his persistent GOP detractors in the eye.

“I’m like a zombie to some people,” he said last week.