race here in Kentucky.

As President Donald Trump has made a major announcement.

The spotlight shines on the Bluegrass State on this Kentucky Derby weekend, bringing attention and money.

Some of the contenders in Kentucky's only open U.S.

House race appeared on KET this week.

[MUSIC] And a new report shows a very encouraging trend in Kentucky overdose deaths.

As we head into May and as we're scrambling here tonight with breaking news, comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant, and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky.

A look back at and some analysis of the week's news in the Commonwealth and the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are Sarah Ladd, health and policy reporter for the Kentucky Lantern.

Sylvia Goodman, Capitol reporter for Kentucky Public Radio.

And Philip Bailey, Louisville based chief political correspondent for USA today.

Breaking news tonight.

Less than an hour before we hit the air, President Trump has officially endorsed Andy Barr in the Kentucky U.S.

Senate race.

Quite a scramble for all of us.

Could this be a game changer?

Phillip.

>> I think it certainly is.

I mean, I think you're seeing here President Trump understanding that the U.S.

Senate is in play earlier in the year.

Bettors across the country has 67% chance of Republicans retaining control of the U.S.

Senate.

That's now dropped down to 51%.

He's trying to consolidate as much of his own base as he can as his popularity begins to wane.

I think Bill is interesting here.

The wording of the president's endorsement of Congressman Barr, where he says Andy Barr is the only candidate, the only candidate who will easily defeat the Democrat, will be one of the most important elections in American history.

That's a clear not only endorsement of Andy Barr, but he also then removes Nate Morris from the table by offering him an ambassadorship.

The pressure is going to really be on Daniel Cameron here to drop out.

>> The race.

So let's continue to follow through on this.

So apparently Morris will accept the ambassadorship and is dropping out of the Senate race.

>> Yes.

On his Facebook page, Nate Morris says that when President Trump makes a call and asks you to serve your country, you stand up and you do it.

And he's also apparently endorsed Barr as well.

So we're really seeing here Trump really quickly trying to put an end to this primary here in Kentucky.

>> Based on the wording of the announcement from the president, is he, you know, telegraphing some concerns that the Democrats could make a serious race of this in the fall?

>> Well, I think you're seeing this across the country, too.

Again, the president's numbers aren't doing that well.

He's sinking in the polls.

And let's look at other states like Texas, for example, where James Talarico, the state representative of the Democrat there, raised $27 million in the first three months.

Polls show him leading John Cornyn and Attorney General Paxton in Texas.

And people are saying, Democrats are saying, look, if you run a more extreme candidate on the right, I'm a candidate.

There's an opportunity for a Democrat to actually pick up.

We're seeing Texas move from solid Republican to more leans Republican.

There's that same feeling, I think, here in Kentucky, even though Kentucky is going to remain a solid Republican state as far as forecasters are concerned.

But for the president here, I think he's wanting to take Kentucky off the table.

Let's focus on these other states.

>> So, Sylvia, you know, Daniel Cameron remains in the race, at least at this time.

And has his campaign issued some quick statement, but we don't know exactly where things go from here.

>> Right.

It's very unclear at the moment.

Obviously, Daniel Cameron, just like Nate Morris and Andy Barr, have telegraphed really strong support for the president.

I was just looking back at his Twitter to see if he made a statement.

And he was saying, you know, Kentucky stands with Donald Trump, with President Trump.

So, I mean, that's a pretty clear sign that all of these candidates feel that Trump's opinion matters a lot in this race.

And I think Daniel Cameron knows that.

And I think we might start seeing that reflected in poll numbers.

But up until this point, even though Daniel Cameron has lagged a lot in fundraising, he has really kept pace with Andy Barr in in polling.

But I think that we should all take a close look at the next polls that come out.

I think this endorsement will have a huge effect on that.

President Trump's endorsement, obviously, especially in a state where he carries such strong polling numbers, such strong margins like Kentucky, his endorsement means a lot.

>> Early voting is about to begin.

We're less than three weeks from this election.

Can Nate Morris be taken off the ballot?

I don't think that's the case.

They've been printed right.

>> No, they're they're printed.

They're done.

But like we said, Nate Morris has already endorsed Andy Barr.

We can expect him to potentially.

Well, I don't know if we can expect this, but he might, you know, hit the campaign trail with Barr, something like that.

Or at least say, you know, don't vote for me.

You know, he might he's going to be on the ballot unless something crazy happens.

Those ballots are printed.

But yeah, I don't know if we're going to see that make a huge difference, but it's something to watch out for.

>> Look, Donald Trump demands fealty, right, in this Republican Party.

And we've seen in other Republican races and primaries across the country, they all say they support President Trump.

But once he picks his horse, that's pretty much the end of the race for these other races across the country.

The pressure is going to be on Daniel Cameron.

Is he going to be offered a judgeship?

Is he going to be offered a job in the administration as well?

Will he take it?

That's the real question for him.

Now, all the pressure is going to be on Daniel from this point forward.

>> Well, you brought up horses and that's where we had planned to begin our discussion tonight is all the attention that is on Kentucky right now.

The derby weekend is underway.

We all call Kentucky home.

Estimated last year that the Derby generated a record $441 million, close to $50 million in taxes.

And the political set, of course, will be there as well, and has been on this Oaks Day and will be tomorrow.

So on Saturday for the Derby.

So there's another potential flashpoint out there, right?

>> I mean, look, when you look at horse racing which has been on the decline, but when NBC, I think you really got to look at the partnership between NBC and Churchill Downs and broadcasting the Derby here.

It was last year that 21.8 million people watched at the peak of the race.

That's the most that's been watched since 1989.

They put it across all of their platforms the nostalgia, the spectacle.

So the sport really gets an injection infusion here that no other aspect of it does.

And it really puts Kentucky on the map.

I think that all Kentuckians can be proud of.

>> They're doing the Oaks race late under the lights at 840 on Friday night, and that has caused some consternation among some in Louisville who were used to the way things went on Derby Eve.

>> I think of Jack fries, I think of Pat steakhouse.

I mean, the businesses around Louisville and even the locals, right?

This is their moneymaker, really, for the entire year and for decades now, Churchill Downs, along with help from the city, have really pushed out local people from participating and getting a lot of that bite of the apple that they're usually getting.

I mean, folks who have parking that they give out to folks who are close by Churchill Downs.

So it's been this erosion of the sort of neighborhood, local feel of it.

I think particularly with the issue of affordability, you don't really see local officials bring that up the way that FIFA has been held to task by Mayor of New York Zoran Mandani.

You're seeing the prices when we're talking about affordability, the prices Bill for some of these dining experiences are in the 10,000 $11,000 range.

I think the standing room only tickets are about $132 these days.

So look, when we talk about affordability, I don't know about your average Kentuckian, but I don't know, maybe they're priced out as far as Churchill Downs is concerned.

>> Well, people will enjoy it in their own way as they can.

You know, we talked about the politicians will be there to see and be seen, of course, but Governor Beshear will get the brightest spotlight when he gets to award that trophy to the to the winner.

Fair to say that he might enjoy that national spotlight or see some advantage in that.

>> Look, Andy Beshear has been enjoying his national spotlight in his role in the Democratic Governors Association.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been getting some of those ads on my social media, and I'm sure he will equally enjoy getting some national television time at the Derby.

Another chance to kind of thrust himself further in the national spotlight as he continues to hint at his future.

>> Sarah, when you tell somebody that you are from Kentucky, it usually doesn't take long until somebody brings up the Kentucky Derby, right?

>> They bring it up pretty quickly.

And we were kind of joking before the show that it's either the Derby or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

You know, people who have never been to Kentucky, maybe they watch the Kentucky Derby.

So, you know, it is a it is a it is a time of the year where Kentucky really is in the national news just for this very short amount of time for a race.

But, you know, lots of people travel, lots of people spend money, you know, lots of people are betting and going to restaurants.

And this is our impression for those.

>> Yeah.

Most people it isn't without its dark sides.

And other challenge for law enforcement is securing a venue with, you know, 150, 160,000 people.

And behind the scenes, there is ongoing work to combat human trafficking.

>> Yeah.

We know that any large event in the Derby is certainly a very large event.

Any large event increases the risk of human trafficking.

We know Kentucky already has, you know, a child abuse child trafficking problem in a lot of ways.

And there's lots of health advocates and children's advocates who always come out around this time of year and say, just be aware of your surroundings.

And if you see someone you you think is being trafficked to call the helpline, which I.

>> Believe we.

>> Can share.

Yeah.

But you know, if you're seeing a child or a person who doesn't have ID or everything they say in a conversation really seems rehearsed, or they have a tattoo that looks like a branding.

Those are sort of red flags.

And it neither one of those things by itself may mean that that person is being trafficked, but there's certainly reasons to look further and maybe seek help.

So it's certainly something to be aware of.

If, you know, for people who are there.

>> We had such a major story to get off of the top there with the president's endorsement on the Republican side of the US Senate race.

But let's talk about the Democratic side.

Dale Romans is a career horse trainer.

Phillip so Derby weekend, you know, would give him some chance for some special attention.

Charles.

Booker and Amy McGrath have been leading in the leading in the polling that we have on the Democratic side.

>> Yeah.

And look, when you look at that polling, Booker seems to be extending his lead.

It was the Emerson College poll that I believe back in February showed him at 30%.

Well, now that lead is 36%.

While McGrath seems to be going backwards, she was at about 19% in February.

She's now gone to about 18%.

But here's the thing that I think is most interesting in that poll Bill when I look at it, Charles Booker really isn't in the lead.

It's undecided.

It's in the lead for the Democrats, 38%.

So you have two candidates who have already run twice before running for U.S.

Senate again.

And it seems the plurality of Kentucky Democrats really don't know who they want to have as their nominee.

So that could give someone like Dale an opening if he can pick up traction and get some more attention.

But I think clearly Booker is the favorite in this race thus far.

He still has a lot of grassroots support.

People really think galvanized around him.

He's very charismatic candidate.

But there is I think when you look at those poll numbers, that 38% worries me.

I think it should worry Charles Booker probably too.

>> Right.

And I actually went to a forum with those three candidates.

Also, Representative Pam Stephenson talking to Oldham County Democrats.

And I talked to some of the people in the crowd.

And really, most of the people I talked to were undecided as well.

You know, they might have that candidate they voted for before either Booker or McGrath for the for a Senate.

But they really told me that they kind of view it as a chess game almost, that they want to see which candidate really has the best chance against a Republican.

I think that's a hard question to answer, especially given the fact that our two leading candidates have previously lost to a Republican for the U.S.

Senate.

But there is some hope, I suppose, among those Democrats, that there is a blue wave like we've been talking about, but we'll have to see if that's a blue wave is strong enough to overcome.

You know, a really strong Republican majority here.

>> I think the Democrats were out in Paducah, the Chamber of Commerce out there recently as well.

Phillip that used to be democratic territory, but has not been in recent years.

>> No, but I think that Sylvia is right here.

Look, this blue wave that we're witnessing where Democrats are sometimes performing 27% points, percentage points in the opposite direction.

Look at that Emerson poll again.

You'll see that Donald Trump won Kentucky by about 30 points over Kamala Harris with 64% of the vote.

Well, now that Emerson poll shows about 52% of Kentuckians approve of him, so his numbers get worse and worse.

There is this idea that in the open seat there may be an opening here.

Kentucky will still be rated a solidly Republican state, but if there's any year that a Democrat might have a chance, might have a chance, it will be this year.

>> Okay.

The Senate race to watch and the sixth district congressional seat in Central Kentucky is open because Andy Barr is taking his chances on winning the Senate race.

Some of the invited candidates appeared on KET this week.

On the Republican side, Ralph Alvarado said that he couldn't attend because of a scheduling conflict.

And earlier this evening, President Trump also endorsed Ralph Alvarado for that sixth district congressional seat.

The candidates, Ryan Dotson and Greg Plucinski, did face off on TV.

>> I am not a career politician.

I am a businessman.

I'm a pastor.

I'm a lot of things, and I'm a part time legislator.

With that being said, I've worked hard all my life, came from nothing, and I've lived the American dream right here in Kentucky.

And it is very well possible.

But I want the voters to know I will never compromise who I am or my convictions.

But I'm always I'm always open minded to get things done.

>> I want to go in and I want to help Kentucky create jobs, boost the economy, go to work for the American government and the people.

And that's very important to me.

But I don't want to have a career doing it.

I want to get in there, do the work and come home.

That's the way the founders intended it.

>> Dodson and Plucinski agree on a lot of issues, including supporting President Trump's authority to conduct military operations in Iran and also on fraud in the 2020 election.

>> Right.

Both of them in that debate referred to, you know, the election is being rigged in 2020, even though there is no evidence of any widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

But, you know, as you can tell from that, they're both pretty strong Trump supporters, pretty unwavering.

So this Ralph Alvarado endorsement from President Trump will, I'm sure, also have a huge influence in the polls.

Huge influence on Election Day.

And so I haven't heard yet from their campaigns.

I haven't looked into that yet as this is all still breaking news, but I am sure that that will have some pretty big influence on voters in that district.

>> Well, the president knows why he's endorsing Ralph Alvarado back in 2024.

Bill in Kentucky sixth Congressional District, Donald Trump beat Harris by about 12 or, excuse me, 15 percentage points.

So we're seeing on average in these House special elections, right?

A 12 point, you know, overperformance by Democrats, like in Texas where there was that 31 point swing.

So Democrats, the DCCC has already named Kentucky's sixth congressional district is one of the target races, one of its 44 targets.

So there's going to be a swing election here if we see this wave going across the country.

Kentucky sixth Congressional District is going to be the shoreline.

I think, for that wave.

The president knows that, and so do the rest of the Republicans.

>> Well, Alvarado also spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention during his ascent in statewide politics here in Kentucky.

So that I'm sure is remembered as well.

>> Yeah.

I mean, he's he's the the picked candidate, I think, from the establishment, from the Republican Party.

But he's also now got President Trump's endorsement.

Again, this is going to be a race in which I think Democrats are going to put a lot of money into.

We're seeing them overperform in all of these state special elections, whether for Congress or state legislative level.

KY six is back in the ball game as a bellwether.

I think.

>> The Democrats, of course, are hoping to put the sixth district in play.

There are just over a thousand more Republicans in the currently drawn sixth district than there are Democrats.

But there are also close to 65,000 registered as other or independents.

This week on KET, Renee Shaw talked to Democratic candidates Zach Dembo David Kloiber, Aaron Petrie and Cherlynn Stevenson.

>> Now I'm taking that same fight that I did for my students that I did for sailors and Marines that I did for victims of crime.

As a prosecutor, I'm taking that same fight to this congressional race because Kentucky needs someone who can stand up against this administration, and someone who has a record of public service and fighting for Kentuckians and Americans.

>> I think it's very important that if we're going to win in November, we have to have a message that's going to bring people in from across the aisle.

We can't keep talking about the same old things, sounding like we're coming out of Washington.

If we're going to be able to get people who voted overwhelmingly for Trump to vote for a Democrat.

So I've committed to putting forward concrete policies and plans to tell our neighbors this is what we have to vote for, instead of just giving them something to vote against.

>> I am not beholden to the political establishment, and that is frankly why I also got into this race, because the Democratic Party has not been the kind of party we need to be.

That's why Donald Trump is elected.

That's why everything from school board to city commission, all the way up to state House and the United States Congress have been taken by the GOP over the last ten years.

We need to stand up and fight for every single person.

>> I am running for Congress, because I believe that it is far past time that we have a representative that not only understands our politics, but truly understands our lives.

I am the only candidate in this race that has flipped a district from red to blue, and then held that district well.

>> Dembo has the most money.

In a recent endorsement from former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, other candidates obviously think they have a claim on that nomination as well.

>> Well, look, when you ask national forecasters about KY six and they look at this Democratic primary, they still rate it as a pretty solidly Republican district.

Now, that could change, obviously, once these primaries are over.

But look, when we look at the Democrats who are winning in these elections since 2024, Bill, they're the ones who talk about affordability.

They're the ones who talk about bread and butter issues you don't really see, at least in Middle America and the rest of the country, the more radical or progressive elements often taking off here.

I do think it's interesting, though, in this primary for the Kentucky six congressional nomination, on the Democratic side, there is this sort of tug of war over has the Democratic Party failed average Americans?

Has it failed average Kentuckians?

Will they put up someone who's going to fight for those bread and butter issues, or someone who's going to fight more about the Democratic Party in the state of it?

>> All right.

The fourth district GOP primary being watched very closely around the country, incumbent Thomas Massie hoping to hold on against Ed Gallrein, who's been endorsed by President Trump.

>> I think if there's any primary in the country Bill that is going to test the true power of President Trump over the Republican Party, still, it's going to be this one, because Thomas Massie is really the only, quote, anti-Trump Republican who's running in the sense that he's bucked the president on tax cuts.

He's bucked him on fighting for the Epstein files to be released.

You know, Mr.

Noah, as he's known in Congress, it really sort of has helped burnish his own reputation.

But, look, President Trump and his allies have spent around $10 million against Thomas Massie already, including Maga KY, where you have top Trump lieutenants who are very poignantly trying to get Thomas Massie out of this office.

He has his own reputation as well.

But at the same time, I think if the Maga element of this, plus the sort of Northern Kentucky hand-wringing over, you know, massie's votes against certain infrastructure projects that could ultimately maybe get Thomas Massie out.

But I think for the most part, people look at this as if he wins this race that gives all sorts of House Republicans a signal that they can buck the president to.

Oh.

>> Well, I think it's also interesting to think about, you know, what are people on the ground actually voting?

And I think that even people who do support President Trump's agenda, I've talked to some voters who say they still like Thomas Massie, even though they also like President Trump.

They don't necessarily view Massie as anti-Trump, but as being, quote unquote, principled.

Like he has things that he will stand by no matter what.

But then also people who say, well, he's stopping President Trump from getting his agenda.

So it's really those combating things.

You know, if you've seen some of Massie's ads, he's not saying I hate President Trump or I am the anti-Trump Republican.

He's not going that way.

But that is how it's kind of certainly how Trump sees it in this race.

>> All right.

>> One to watch.

Now.

Let's talk about some end state issues for a bit.

A very encouraging report about overdose deaths in Kentucky.

Sara, a big decline.

It follows other declines.

Or is something finally working.

>> Yeah.

So we had about 1100 deaths from overdoses in 2025 in Kentucky.

And that's down about 23% from last year.

But it's also the lowest since 2014.

So I think that's really interesting.

We haven't been this low since far before the pandemic.

A couple of things are working right.

If you talk to people in the space, you know, we've gotten millions of dollars in settlement funds and that goes out to grants, you know, recovery, housing, all kinds of different programs to help people who are in active recovery or active addiction.

We have 182,000 doses of Narcan that went out last year, and that can help reduce overdoses.

We still see methamphetamine and fentanyl as top culprits when you do toxicology reports in the deaths a couple of years ago, the General Assembly legalized fentanyl test strips, and a lot of health departments and different programs will give those out for free so people can get them and test, you know, and see if there's fentanyl present in whatever they're taking or looking at.

But it is encouraging.

There's still 1100 people who died.

And so the messaging that came out of the Beshear administration this week is just we have to keep working to get that down, to.

>> Still work to be done.

A new report also shows the Kentuckians of color have worse health outcomes than white residents.

And, Sara, some of those numbers are pretty stark.

>> They're pretty bad.

I wouldn't say they're necessarily surprising because we've known for a long time there's severe racial disparities in health in Kentucky.

There's a couple of layers to the report that came out a all of Kentuckians face poorer health outcomes than a lot of our counterparts in the national average.

But when you look at black babies are more than twice as likely to die in infancy as white babies, that's a pretty serious disparity.

You also look at Hispanic Kentuckians being more likely to be uninsured, and you talk to health advocates this week, and they they said, you know, we know what to do when it comes to taking care of people and giving good care.

It's there's a provider bias issue, and we have to make sure that everybody is getting the same care, is what they're saying.

There's also access issues.

Can you get to a doctor?

Is there a doctor close to you?

And that goes back to sort of our medical shortage that we are seeing in all sorts of different areas, but there's certainly really bad, severe racial disparities in our health outcomes that we're seeing.

>> Some breaking news today.

Jefferson County judge struck down part of Kentucky's rule defining human life as beginning at conception.

And that apparently has paved the way for a lawsuit.

>> Yes.

So some Jewish women in Louisville were suing the state, saying that in the IVF process, we know that there's extra embryos that create that are created in labs.

And a very routine part of the process of IVF is to discard embryos that you don't need.

And so their lawsuit kind of asked the question of the court, can we discard them?

Is that, you know, prosecutable under Kentucky law?

And they felt that it was vague.

And the judge said that the definition in Kentucky law that says life begins at conception is vague and it's void.

And so he struck that down.

He did not agree with the woman's argument that Kentucky law basically gives priority to a Christian belief versus the Jewish belief regarding what life is and when it begins.

He did not agree with that, and he did not strike down the abortion ban itself.

So there's going to be a lot of questions still, if life doesn't begin at conception, when does it begin?

So there's maybe the door is open for more lawsuits and more General Assembly action on defining that.

>> Right.

And I think there's also a little bit of a question of when you strike down a key definition, like the definition of what is life in this abortion bans in the Kentucky's near-total abortion ban?

What does that mean for the rest of the ban?

How is it implemented in that case?

So I think there are a lot of questions.

This ruling was not extremely explicit in its outcomes and in its effects.

So I think there's a lot of questions remaining.

>> There's also a national ruling Friday, regarding telehealth and mifepristone.

>> Yeah.

So I am not an expert on this case, but a court of appeals court said that a federal court said that you can no longer get abortion medication delivered via the mail.

I don't know what's next for that case, but that is obviously a very significant ruling, a huge win.

I would, I would say, for pro-life advocates who wanted legislation to that effect in Kentucky.

>> And they're celebrating it already.

But basically 1 in 4, I believe people who seek out abortion services do so via telehealth.

So that means they would have to go somewhere in person, which would be, you know, a burden if you don't have transportation.

>> So some unknowns that we'll continue to watch as this is all interpreted.

All right, Lexington lost two civil rights icons this week.

Former state Representative Jesse Crenshaw died.

He was the first black member of the state House from Lexington, and he served for more than 20 years, from 1993 to 2014.

Crenshaw was also the first black assistant U.S.

attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

He was 79.

And in a tough twist, days later, Lexington is having to say goodbye to people who ran the Urban League for 55 years.

People's died at his desk, still working on affordable housing.

He's remembered for addressing major equality issues quietly, seldom seeking the spotlight, but making a big difference for many in Lexington and beyond.

PKG peoples was 80.

That's comin on Kentucky.

Have a good week ahead.