The primary election is May 21, and there are several candidates seeking their party's nomination. The Pure Politics team has contacted each candidate with a primary opponent to find out who they are, and what they stand for. 

Adam Edelen is a Democrat running for governor.

Edelen has a background in both state government and business. He served as chief of staff for former Governor Steve Beshear, and as state auditor. After his work in state government, he moved to business.

“Most recently I’ve been working in the renewable energy space,” he said. “Partnering with coal companies to bring renewable energy jobs to the forgotten places in Kentucky where we need to drive economic diversification working on major projects that hold the promise of putting a lot of out of work coal miners back to work in an industry of the future so I have a diversified background.”

He says his recent work and his upbringing in rural Kentucky are what make him the best person to lead the state.

“I wasn’t born on third base and I certainly wasn’t born into a political family so what successes and failures I’ve had in life,” he said. “And I’ve had plenty, and I own all of them. And so that sort of world view and that background and that experience I think qualified me to be precisely the right guy to be governor in a time of unprecedented economic and technological and cultural change. The economy is changing and for our people to have a fighting chance in a changing economy we have to have a governor who’s more than a talking point politician who understands you don’t build the future by filing lawsuits, that you actually build the future with leadership and a background that creates jobs for people in this changing economy.”

Edelen says he decided to run for governor because he wants to help move Kentucky forward.

“We are really just not relevant to the opportunities of the 21st century,” he said. “And that’s because our governor, and the leadership teams in both sides in Frankfort are pursuing this low skill, low wage economy that just doesn’t exist anymore. So I’m running because I think I’m precisely the right person to prepare Kentucky for the modern age and to make sure our children and grandchildren have a fighting chance to stay here in Kentucky and realize their version of the American dream.”

Edelen says anything that helps modernize the economy in the state is a cornerstone of his campaign.

“Getting broadband to every Kentuckian, creating thousands of renewable energy jobs just like what is happening in other parts of the country, fully funding education, preserving healthcare,” he said. “And more importantly than just about anything, getting wages up that have stagnated for so long. The issue in Kentucky isn’t that our people aren’t working hard enough, it’s that the work they are doing doesn’t pay enough.”

Kentucky’s pension system has more than $40 billion in unfunded liability; to help fix the system Edelen says you need to start with the people who manage it.

“Politicians and governors of both parties put their political buddies on these boards and they were not adequate to govern these for the benefit of pensioners or the taxpayers who help pay the freights,” he said. “We have to make sure that system is funded, but that’s why I’ve made the commitment that nobody who gives me a dime will be eligible to serve on that board because it’s got to more politically independent, it’s got to be populated by people who are credentialed and experienced and have stature, not only to stand up to Wall Street, but to make sure that system runs for the benefit of the pensioners and the taxpayers who pay the freight.”

To help fund the system Edelen does support expanding gaming, but believes comprehensive tax reform will be more effective.

“We’ve got a system that collects $10 billion a year annually for the treasury but is so riddled with special interest created loopholes that we actually forgive $12 billion,” he said. “So we have got to make a decision in Kentucky, are we going to modernize our tax code, are we going to appreciate that vaping, for instance, ought to be taxed the same way cigarettes and excise tax are applied. But we have the special interests who have so much power that there are so many loopholes in the system.”

 Many view Edelen as the most progressive candidate in the Democratic primary which could make it hard to attract rural voters, but Edelen says he is a product of rural Kentucky who is helping to bring jobs there.

“I hunt, I fish, but I’m also the only candidate in this race who has a track record of bringing economic opportunities to forgotten places,” he said. “The solar project, this massive $135 million capital investment, solar project that I’m developing in Eastern Kentucky, this year will break ground, and next year we will put hundreds of out of work coal miners back to work in an industry of the future.”

Edelen has made not taking PAC money a major message of his campaign, yet a super PAC, Kentuckians for a Better Future, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on television ads supporting him, and attacking opponent Andy Beshear. The PAC has close connections to him and his running mate, Gill Holland, including a large donation from Holland’s mother-in-law. Edelen says he can’t control what independent organizations support his campaign.

“This is a modern reality of politics these days,” he said. “There is scuttlebutt that Rocky has a super PAC, Andy Beshear certainly was drug over the finish line years ago by a super PAC that was funded by groups that included Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, so it’s just a fact of modern politics, there is this organization out there that is supporting us but I’m glad it seems to be funded by people who are noted folks, who commit a lot to philanthropy in Kentucky and they don’t seem to represent the special interests, and I think that’s an important distinction, but certainly the campaign we are running is completely independent of special interests or corporate PAC money.”

Edelen is running against Rocky Adkins, Andy Beshear and Geoff Young in the primary.