Seven candidates, two questions; only one response

As we get closer to the May primary, I thought it would be revealing to see if the Dems running for Mitch’s Senate seat would make the customary pledge to support their opponent in the general if they didn’t win the primary.

I didn’t realize how revealing.

Out of seven candidates, only one responded.

And that’s after sending a follow-up email when I didn’t hear back the first time.

Look, I’ve run for office. It’s insanely busy, especially for a race at this level. You’ve got a ton of things to pay attention to and to do, and every minute is precious.

But even so, all it would have taken for a campaign to answer the questions would have been a reply with two words: “Of course.”

I don’t know why they didn’t respond. Perhaps they consider responding to this little independent media outlet somehow beneath them. Or perhaps they were worried that even talking about not winning was bad karma.

Whatever the reason, all we got from six of the seven was crickets. Only one candidate, one campaign, actually gave us an answer. (And a pretty darn good one, at that.)

The two questions

Here’s what I sent:

Hello! I am checking in with all the persons running in competitive Democratic primaries, and have two questions for your campaign:

1) If you lose in the primary, will you endorse the winner?

2) And will you encourage your volunteers to work for the winner, and your donors to donate to the winner?

If you could send me a statement answering those two questions, I'll add it to the story just as you send it.

As I said, these are pretty standard questions for candidates. And, as I also noted, all they would have had to say was “Of course.” But, for some reason, six never responded.

The responses

Here’s the six I never heard from:

• Joshua Blanton
• Charles Booker
• Logan Forsythe
• Dale Romans
• Pam Stevenson
• Vincent Thompson

And, if you know the candidates, you know who was the one candidate to respond: Amy McGrath.

Here’s her response:

“My focus right now is earning the support of voters across Kentucky and making the case for the leadership our state needs to get things done on day one. Democrats share a common goal: electing a senator who will stand up for Kentuckians, protect our democracy, and fight to lower costs for working families.

Whoever voters choose as the Democratic nominee will have my full support in that effort.”

McGrath’s response came in the day after I sent the questions. I filed it, assuming I would get more to go with it. But in the end, the McGrath campaign was the only one to respond.

I appreciate getting the one response. And I wonder about the other six and why they never responded. If you’re working in one of those campaigns and have some insights, feel free to send them on.

And thanks to the Amy McGrath and the McGrath campaign for taking a few minutes to respond.

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