Results of a recanvass of votes cast in last week’s Kentucky gubernatorial primary confirm that Tea Party-supported Matt Bevin has won.
As Breitbart News reported, Bevin’s original margin of victory was a mere 83 votes. ABC News is now reporting that the recanvassing results show that Bevin held his 83 vote lead.
News of the recanvass outcome was yet another sign of Bevin’s remarkable political comeback. One year ago he was soundly defeated by incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a divisive and vitriolic Republican primary.
The recanvass, which began at 9 a.m. on Thursday, was conducted by every county clerk in the state and supervised by the office of the Secretary of State.
The Louisville Courier-Journal first reported the results of the recanvass early Thursday afternoon: “Matt Bevin appears to have won the GOP primary for governor over James Comer according to a recanvass of the state’s voting machines.”
The recanvassing results were not suprising. As the Courier-Journal reported, “Never has a recanvass changed the result of an election in Kentucky.”
The next step is in Comer’s court.
He could ask for a recount, “which is a more extensive review of the election in which actual ballots are examined.” However, if he does so, he would be required for the cost of the recount, which could prove to be expensive.
Previously, “Comer said that if the recanvass helps to close the gap with Bevin, he’d consider asking Franklin Circuit Court to order a recount.”
But such was not the case in today’s recanvass. The likelihood that a recount would change the outcome is also highly uncertain.
Lacking such a recount request, Bevin is now the nominee of the Republican Party, and will take on Attorney General Jack Conway, who easily won the Democratic nomination for governor, in the November general election.
Conway has previously said he prefers to compete against Bevin as the Republican nominee.
In 2010, Rand Paul defeated Conway in the election to select Kentucky’s junior United States Senator.
Conway, however, thinks Bevin is very different from Rand Paul.
“Rand Paul had a national following, and I’m not certain that Matt Bevin has that kind of national following,” Conway told Cincinnati.com on Tuesday.
The most recent poll shows Conway leading Bevin by a 42 percent to 36 percent margin more than five months before the election.
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