There’s an important election on Tuesday that should give us some clues about the issues that will matter to voters when they go to the polls a year from now.

The Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, is running for re-election against up-and-coming GOP star Attorney General Daniel Cameron. And, until quite recently, Cameron had been trying to gain traction in a race that pitted dozens of outside radical left groups campaigning against him. As recently as late October, Cameron trailed Beshear by double digits in some polls.

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Now, a new Emerson College poll shows Cameron and Beshear tied going into the final weekend of the race.

Cameron has come roaring back by consolidating his support from Donald Trump supporters, says Emerson College pollster Spencer Kimball. Previously, Beshear led the race by distancing himself from Joe Biden, who lost to Donald Trump in the state by 20 points. But Kimball now says that Cameron “appears to have gained ground by consolidating Republican voters who supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.” He’s increased his support among that group by a whopping 25 points in the last month.

“The poll shows what we’ve known all along is that Andy Beshear is deeply unpopular because he has endorsed Joe Biden for president,” Cameron told Fox News when asked about the new polling. “He shut down our schools. He shut down our churches. He shut down our small businesses. He refused to protect women’s sports from biological males.”

If Democratic candidates believe that voters have forgotten about their massive failures during the pandemic that led to near-catastrophic economic damage, including spending $5 trillion in an attempt to jumpstart the economy, it appears we’re going to find out whether that gamble will pay off.

Cameron is pulling out all the stops in the last weekend, sensing victory is close.

Louisville Courier

Cameron’s “Fight for Kentucky Bus Tour” had six stops scheduled Friday. He’s campaigned in recent days alongside well-known Republican figures including anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas and Trump’s former press secretary.

Sean Southard, a spokesperson for the campaign, said the new poll shows momentum building for the Republican candidate, who was first endorsed by Trump last year. The former president reaffirmed that endorsement earlier this week with a video encouraging voters to support Cameron on Election Day.

“Andy Beshear has consistently led this race, and he leads now with four days to go because voters like him, and he’s done a good job,” said.Alex Floyd, a spokesperson for Beshear’s campaign. “We’ve been gearing up to win a close race all year, and we’re headed into the final stretch with the energy and enthusiasm we need to win while Daniel Cameron is still struggling to defend an unpopular and extreme agenda.”

Indeed, this latest Emerson College poll may be an outlier. Almost every other poll taken in the cycle shows Beshear with a lead. Many of the polls show him leading by double digits.

But what makes me think this is a true reflection of voter sentiment and not a mirage is the numbers showing Trump voters returning to the fold and giving Cameron’s campaign a rocket-powered boost. Trump voters have been shown to be “likely voters” in the past and with election day closing in, it may very well be that they will put Cameron over the top.

The Lexington Herald-Leader details some of the failures of Beshear and endorses Cameron.

During COVID, Beshear operated in a closed silo with little input from people on the ground, making decisions that were at best ill-informed (such as leaving big box stores open but closing mom-and-pops) and at worst smelled of corruption (like allowing Beshear-donor owned Kentucky Kingdom to open but keeping other outdoor recreation businesses closed). When questioned about his decision-making process, he lashed out and accused those asking of being uncaring and cruel.

Cameron has shown himself as the kind of leader who listens to people and acts. He’s going to do that if he’s going to bring Kentucky back from the failed leadership of Andy Beshear.