Ending what has been the most boring “will he or won’t he?” exploratory period ever, State Representative Charles Booker (D-Louisville) has officially declared he will be a candidate for the United States Senate this year.
Look, not even Booker’s mother would believe he has a chance of beating Mitch McConnell. There are underdog campaigns and then are foolish ones. This isn’t an underdog campaign.
Booker has one term in Frankfort under his belt. And the only way he set himself apart during that term was the fact he had a penchant of decrying lynchings, a practice that, despicable as it is, hasn’t happened in Kentucky in nearly a century.
So what got Booker to throw his hat in the ring? Well, like usual, you find there is more to the story when you start to dig.
A well-placed source familiar with Democratic Party politics tells us this is a proxy war for control of their party. Seems the “old guard” faction of the party led by the Beshears are fearful of a new wave of activists falling in line with Amy McGrath.
The Beshear camp, which is notably aligned with Rocky Adkins, Jim Gray and John Yarmuth, reportedly encouraged Booker to run as a way to weaken McGrath. They think she will still come out of the primary, but limp out much like Lois Combs Weinberg in 2002.
Make no mistake, the traditional Democrats would much rather have another term of Mitch McConnell than lose control of the power they currently have.
It should make for a fun campaign to see who lines up behind Booker.
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