Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron will be the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor, multiple outlets projected Tuesday.
Cameron, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, easily bested agriculture commissioner Ryan Quarles and former U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft, the latter of whom was recently endorsed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. He will face incumbent Kentucky governor Andy Beshear in the November general election.
As of press time, with over 95 percent of the vote in, Cameron has 47.7 percent of the vote. Quarles is in second with 21.7 percent and Craft is in third with 17.2 percent.
Cameron was endorsed by Donald Trump last year. On Sunday, the former president urged Kentuckians to vote for Cameron in a tele-rally, slamming Beshear as a radical.
The Kentucky attorney general thanked Trump for his support during his victory speech on Tuesday.
“Let me just say: The Trump culture of winning is alive and well in Kentucky,” Cameron asserted in an apparent reference to DeSantis’s recent comment that the GOP has developed a “culture of losing.”
Cameron is also a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). He previously served as an aide to McConnell.
A third-place finish for Craft is a disappointing result. She was viewed as Cameron’s main rival, polling in second in the final Emerson College survey of the race. The former U.N. ambassador also outspent Cameron by over $5.5 million.
A last-minute endorsement from DeSantis did not appear to move the needle for Craft. DeSantis also saw the candidate he endorsed in the Jacksonville mayoral race lose to a Democrat on Tuesday. Jacksonville is currently the largest city in the U.S. with a Republican mayor, but the mayor’s office will soon move to the Democratic column.
The Kentucky GOP primary was a bitter and costly one. Cameron will now have to overcome Beshear’s high approval rating in order to beat him.
The Kentucky attorney general has less than $500,000 in his coffers, Politico reported, while Beshear boasts a war chest of $7 million ready for the general. Nevertheless, both the Republican and Democratic Governors Associations are expected to spend heavily in the race.