KENTUCKY — Secretary of State Michael Adams, R-Ky., joins this week’s “In Focus Kentucky” program to share updates related to his office and leadership as the state’s chief election official.

During this segment, Adams also comments publicly for the first time about his selection by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to receive the 2024 JFK Profile in Courage Award.

In a news release announcing Adams’ selection, the foundation said the award recognizes “public servants who have risked their careers by putting the public interest ahead of their own political standing.” It said Adams’ selection was in recognition of his defense of “free and fair elections in challenging times” and his work to expand voting rights “despite party opposition and political and personal threats.”

“This has been given to U.S. presidents, some pretty significant people in the world. I’m honored to even be in the same conversation with them. And the way I choose to accept this, I think the spirit they gave this to me, is it’s not just about me. It’s a recognition of the work of other secretaries of state, county clerks, poll workers and the thousands of people who step up twice a year to make our system of government possible. It doesn’t just magically happen. It takes an army of people sacrificing of themselves, and that’s getting harder and harder in today’s environment to put yourself forward. And so they’re they’re celebrating me but really, I’m just an example of what’s going on in America and we’re proud,” said Adams.

Past winners of the Profile in Courage Award include former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama, Secretary-General of the U.N. Kofi Annan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Senator John McCain. 

Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award on June 9, 2024 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.