Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is launching his first campaign stops after winning the Republican nomination in the Kentucky gubernatorial race last month.
Cameron beat out 11 other Republican candidates, receiving around 48% of the vote. He will face favored incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) in November, who won around 91% of the blue vote.
THE FIGHTS THAT LAY AHEAD IN CONGRESS WITH DEBT CEILING IN REARVIEW
Cameron was in the national spotlight after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville in March 2020 during a raid on her apartment. Taylor’s family and protesters targeted Cameron for failing to issue criminal charges against the officers for Taylor’s death.
Cameron traveled to multiple Kentucky counties Monday as the activists rallied in opposition, kicking off in his hometown of Elizabethtown with his family’s support. Cameron spoke in Bowling Green and Daviess before making his final rally of the day in Owensboro.
"We need a governor that is going to stand for our teachers, who is going to stand for parents and students in school, who is going to stand for and support our law enforcement community so that we can get violent crime down. Those are the values I'm referring to,” Cameron said in Bowling Green, noting that his Democratic opponent does not align with those beliefs, according to ABC.
Cameron warned Daviess County residents that their values are at risk, saying Beshear created "a vision that has brought us failed Democratic leadership for these last three years," according to the Messenger-Inquirer.
Until Freedom, a New York-based nonprofit organization that addresses systemic and racial injustice, announced plans on Monday to launch a statewide effort against defeating Cameron’s GOP bid for governor.
“As a former prosecutor, I knew that there was sufficient evidence to indict the officers responsible,” Lonita Baker, one of the Taylor family's attorneys, said. “As a former prosecutor, I knew that Daniel Cameron did not even present the question of whether those officers should be indicted.”
Cameron is running his campaign on bringing a different vision to Kentucky than the current governor, targeting Beshear for not reflecting "the values of the men, women, and children of all 120 counties," he said in a multicity campaign tour in Richmond last week.
"Andy Beshear has downplayed crime in Kentucky, ignoring skyrocketing homicides in Louisville, and even saying it’s 'unfair' to use the word 'looting' to describe robbery," Cameron said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "Unlike Andy Beshear, I’ll never abandon the law or our cops for political purposes. I’ve always followed the law without fear or favor, and that’s exactly what I’ll do as governor."
On what would have been Taylor’s 30th birthday, activists and supporters, along with Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer,` gathered for a press conference to hold the attorney general who oversaw the state's investigation into the death of Taylor responsible.
The Justice Department issued a report in March on the Louisville Police Department following an almost two-year investigation into the Taylor case that found law enforcement had a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory conduct, according to a press release by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Cameron has defended his role in Taylor’s case, responding to the Justice Department investigation by tweeting, “The vast majority of Kentucky’s law enforcement community protects & serves the Commonwealth with dignity & honor, & I am thankful to these brave men & women who put their lives on the line day in & day out to keep our communities safe.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"As I said in 2020, Ms. Taylor’s death was a tragedy. Every day, the Taylor family wakes up knowing someone they loved is no longer with them," Cameron told the Washington Examiner. " My obligation is to follow the law, no matter what — even when protesters show up on my lawn."
In his bid to unseat Beshear, Cameron selected Terry Carmack on Tuesday, chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to take on a leadership role in his campaign.