Kentucky People’s Campaign organizing to oust Republican Rand Paul in 2022

President Donald Trump looks over the shoulder of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at a campaign rally in Lexington, Ky., Nov. 4, 2019. The Kentucky People's Campaign is targeting Paul, whom it calls a 'ringleader of the radical Republican right,' in the 2022 midterms. | Susan Walsh / AP

The midterm elections are more than 17 months away, but the Kentucky People’s Campaign is already targeting the Bluegrass State’s junior senator, Republican Rand Paul.

Paul “is a deeply entrenched member, and sometimes ringleader, of the Republican Radical Right,” says a recent People’s Campaign fundraising email.

Hence, the progressive group has started a “Stand Against Rand because Rand Stands Against Us!” campaign. Adds the email: “With your partnership, we will connect with key Kentucky voters and take a stand for progress in America.” As is typical, the email includes links for donating and volunteering.

The email doesn’t specifically endorse any potential Paul opponent. Still, the message points out that “Charles Booker, who is on a mission to serve Kentuckians from the ‘hood to the holler,’ has launched his exploratory committee—a first step in his quest to unseat one of the worst U.S. Senators in U.S. History-Rand Paul.”

A former state representative from Louisville, Booker lost to ex-Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath of Georgetown in last year’s Democratic primary.

So far, no other Democrats have formed exploratory committees or tossed their hats in the ring. But there’s been some speculation about a Paul challenge from Rocky Adkins, a veteran House lawmaker and senior advisor to Gov. Andy Beshear.

“During his 2010 campaign, [Paul]…said that businesses should be allowed to discriminate based upon race,” says The People’s Campaign. “History will show that Rand Paul was on the wrong side of virtually every COVID-19 issue in 2020 and 2021. And he consistently rejects legislation that will help poor and working people and their families.”

Paul, from Bowling Green, rates an “F” on the latest NAACP Civil Rights Legislative Report Card.

Paul favors school vouchers and is a frequent critic of teachers’ unions, scoring him an “F” on the National Education Association Legislative Report Card.

Unions across the board say Paul is one of the most anti-labor lawmakers in Congress. He supports a national “right to work” law and has voted the union-endorsed position on bills just 12% of the time since he came to the Senate in 2011, according to the AFL-CIO’s Legislative Scorecard.

The People’s Campaign website says the organization “is a grassroots political action committee” whose “purpose is to change politics and policy in ways that positively impact people” by organizing the working class and economically struggling people to participate and vote in their own best interests, reinforcing social justice work, and fostering what it refers to as “moral progressivism.”

More information about Kentucky’s People’s Campaign is available via email at info@campaignforpeople.com and by phone at 502-641-3676.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Berry Craig

Lifelong Kentuckian Berry Craig is an emeritus professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah and a freelance writer. He is a member of American Federation of Teachers Local 1360, recording secretary for the Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council, webmaster-editor for the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, and a member of the state AFL-CIO Executive Board. His ninth book on the history of his state, “Kentuckians and Pearl Harbor: Stories from the Day of Infamy,” was published by the University Press of Kentucky in November 2020.