Kentucky Politics

In front of a raucous crowd at Kentucky's premier political event on Saturday, the Democratic incumbent Governor Andy Beshear talked about the state's high-flying economy while his Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron hammered away on social issues.

The political epicenter of state politics will be in Graves County, Kentucky this Saturday at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic; a fundraiser for Saint Jerome’s Parish. And this event comes in the midst of a hotly contested gubernatorial campaign. Kentucky Gazette editor and publisher Laura Cullen Glasscock plans to be in the crowd this year and she talked about what she'll be watching for.

This past legislative session the General Assembly passed a bill legalizing the sale and use of medicinal cannabis under certain conditions. This landmark legislation represented a turning point in Kentucky politics and called to mind the many efforts of Gatewood Galbraith. The colorful and seemingly perennial candidate was a vocal proponent for full-on legalization. In this installment of WUKY’s award winning history series Saving Stories. Doug Boyd from UK Libraries’ Nunn Center shares audio from a 1990 interview with Galbraith where the well-known defense attorney and cannabis activist lays out his reasoning and offers up his overall positive vision for the future of the state.

WUKY's Award winning history series Saving Stories celebrates Women's History Month. Nunn Center Director Doug Boyd shares audio from a rare oral history interview with Martha Layne Collins; the only woman ever to be elected governor of Kentucky. She talks about her approach to the office, convincing Japanese automaker Toyota to build a plant in Georgetown and how she hoped Kentuckians would look back on her time as governor. Saving Stories is a collaboration between WUKY and the Louie B. Nunn for Oral History in the UK Libraries.

The first four legislative days of the thirty-day session are in the books and lawmakers in Frankfort will now take a break before coming back next month. What was the first week of January like for a reporter covering state government? Laura Cullen Glasscock, the editor and publisher of the Frankfort-based Kentucky Gazette joins Alan Lytle for the first edition of Capitol Chat for 2023. They talk about major legislative priorities for the GOP dominated General Assembly, recap Governor Andy Beshear's annual State of the Commonwealth address, and discuss the bizarre way in which former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin let us all know he's not running for the office this year.

Kentucky Republicans came to the state’s premier political event this weekend intent on winning elections in November and beyond, but some candidates aspiring to become governor had a hard time coming to terms with Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020.

If you are a political junky in Kentucky then Graves County is the place to be this weekend as the annual Fancy Farm Picnic at St. Jerome’s Parish ushers in the campaign season with speeches, jabs and sometimes out of bounds attacks. Will that be the case this year given all of the devastation and flood cleanup on the other side of the state? For a preview we turn to Laura Cullen Glasscock, she’s the editor and publisher of the Frankfort-based Kentucky Gazette.

Larry Forgy, a Republican stalwart who ran for governor three times in Kentucky, losing a heartbreakingly close election in 1995, has died. He was 82.

Phyllis George, the former Miss America who became a female sportscasting pioneer on CBS’s “The NFL Today,” has died. She was 70. A family spokeswoman…

Campaign 2018 is just about over, Election 2018 is just hours away. WUKY's Alan Lytle gets a few final thoughts from Kentucky Gazette editor and publisher…