Republican Matt Bevin wins Kentucky Governor’s Race, Ohio marijuana bill fails
Republican Matt Bevin failed to beat Sen. Mitch McConnell last year but now mounted a huge victory on Tuesday, winning the state’s governorship over Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat. In Ohio, voters rejected ballot initiatives that could have paved the way to the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Bevin has often disagreed with the more mainstream elements of his party and beat Conway in a race that Bevin was not expected to win by any significant margin. Bevin ran on a pledge to shutdown the state’s healthcare exchange and has expressed concerns about the expansion of Medicaid in Kentucky under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Ohio voters turned down the marijuana measure, where Issue 3 would have effectively given a few businessmen a monopoly on cultivating the drug, which would have been sold at a limited number of places for sale in the state.
Nick Lachey, the onetime lead singer of 98 Degrees, and other investors are behind ResponsibleOhio, the group that was pushing an initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the Buckeye State.
Vote sign photo/ Leslie Andrachuk via pixabay
“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” said one of those advocacy groups, The National Cannabis Industry Association. “This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana.”
The amendment would have permitted anyone 21 and older to hold up to an ounce of pot for personal use. With a $50 license, they could have housed eight ounces of harvested pot and four plants.
In addition to Conway’s loss to Republican Matt Bevin for governor and Democrat Adam Edelen lost his re-election bid to little known Republican state representative Mike Harmon.
“The degree to which the national party is out of step with mainstream Kentuckians has created an environment where it’s extraordinarily difficult for a Democrat to win statewide,” said Edelen.
Edelen’s loss was particularly tough for Democrats, as he was seen as the party’s likely candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in 2016. Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes’ 15-point defeat to Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Senate race, leaves few obvious options for Democrats heading into the midterm elections.
“Make no mistake, folks, the rebuilding of the Democratic Party starts tomorrow,” Grimes told subdued supporters in Frankfort, despite winning a second term as Kentucky’s Secretary of State.
[…] Republican Matt Bevin wins Kentucky Governor’s Race, Ohio marijuana bill fails […]