All constitutional officers are up for election Tuesday. Here's a quick guide to knowing where they stand on important issues.

Gubernatorial Candidates

ABORTION

Matt Bevin: Bevin is pro-life without exceptions. He has made his stance on abortion a major part of his campaign and has been endorsed by several pro-life groups including Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life Committee.

Andy Beshear: Beshear is pro-choice but with limitations, he does not support late-term abortions. He has been endorsed by NARAL and Planned Parenthood.

EDUCATION

Matt Bevin: Bevin is often at odds with public educators in the state who view his four years in office as an attack on public education, despite that Bevin touts his time in office improving funding to public education. Bevin boasts he has provided the highest funding levels to the SEEK formula; however those numbers are not adjusted for inflation. Bevin also touts his work fully funding teachers' pensions and using 100 percent of the lottery funds for education. Bevin is a proponent of school choice and charter schools.

Andy Beshear: Much of Andy Beshear’s campaign has been geared toward teachers and ending what he calls bullying by Bevin. Beshear has vowed to provide a $2,000 across the board pay increase for teachers and has an “education first” budget—increasing the funding to public schools. Beshear has vowed to restructure the State Board of Education and remove Dr. Wayne Lewis as Education Commissioner if elected. Beshear has been endorsed by the Kentucky Education Association.

John Hicks: Libertarian Hicks believes the state should not control the teacher's retirement plan and that teachers should have control. He says if current teachers like their pension, they should keep it. He believes in moving to low fee index funds that would pay back portions of the investments to teachers.

HEALTHCARE

Matt Bevin: Bevin is pushing for work requirements for Kentuckians covered under Medicaid Expansion. The 1115 Medicaid Waiver would require “able-bodied” Kentuckians to work or complete some type of community engagement to maintain their Medicaid coverage. The controversial plan is currently being held up in federal court. Bevin is also supportive of Association Health Plans and wrote an amicus brief in support of them. The Bevin Administration says AHPs allow small businesses to band together and offer cheaper coverage for employees—but a federal judge called it a “run around” of the Affordable Care Act.

Andy Beshear: This was another major talking point for Andy Beshear who has vowed to rescind the Medicaid wavier his first week in office. Beshear has laid out a health care policy plan that emphasizes providing affordable health care coverage to Kentuckians as well as guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions; he is fighting against the AHP plan which he says would rip away coverage for pre-existing conditions.

John Hicks: Hicks takes the stance of the Libertarian party which believes government involvement in healthcare is a problem.  The party believes laws and programs such as HMOs should be repealed in favore of a totally free market in health care. 

EXPANDED GAMING

Matt Bevin: He is opposed to adding casino gambling to Kentucky.

Andy Beshear: He has made expanded gaming a big issue in his campaign and says all revenue from the adding casinos to Kentucky would be put toward the unfunded pension liabilities. Kentucky Senate Leadership has said any expanding gaming bill bringing casinos to Kentucky would be “dead on arrival”.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Matt Bevin: Bevin is supportive of medical marijuana—but not recreational. Bevin has said he will sign medical marijuana legislation as long as it is only for medicinal purposes and depending on how the bill is written, but he doesn’t support taxing the plant.

Andy Beshear: Beshear is supportive of medical marijuana as well—but he and Bevin differ over the policy. Beshear has said the tax revenue generated from it could help pad out the pension system.

John Hicks:  Hicks supports full legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. He supports clemency for non-violent cannabis convictions and says Kentucky should follow the Colorado tax model of using a 15% excise tax on marijuana sales from a cultivator to a retailer. Colorado also has a 15% sales tax on retails sales to customers.

TAX REFORM

Matt Bevin: Matt Bevin is pushing to eliminate the income tax in Kentucky and move toward a consumption-based tax. His plan would do so gradually—slowly increasing the sales tax while decreasing the income tax. He also wants to do away with the death tax.

Andy Beshear: Beshear has said he would change the tax system as well and undo much of the 2018 tax reform package the legislature passed which saw taxes on certain services like car repair increase while other taxes decrease. Beshear often points to the fact that there is no sales tax on the purchase of a private plane in Kentucky.

 Attorney General Candidates

OPIOIDS

Greg Stumbo: This has been a top issue for Stumbo during his campaign, he was the first attorney general to bring a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma—and says he would like to finish the work he’s started. Stumbo has vowed to finish the lawsuits currently pending against drug manufacturers and distributors.

Daniel Cameron: Cameron has also made dealing with the opioid epidemic a major part of his campaign. Cameron has said he would create the Attorney General Ambassador’s Program which would be a group of people in all 120 counties to go to civic-minded organizations to discuss the impact opioid addiction is having across the commonwealth. Cameron would also like to increase the number of drug investigators within the Department of Investigations to begin to combat the problem.

WORKING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

Greg Stumbo: When Stumbo was attorney general in 2003-2007 he created the Kentucky Bureau of Investigations which investigated various crimes involving drugs, public corruption, and Medicaid fraud among other things, Stumbo has vowed to reestablish the bureau if elected.

Daniel Cameron: Cameron views the office as being the Chief Law Enforcement Official—and has placed much of his campaign on that. Cameron received the endorsement from the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police.

ABORTION

Greg Stumbo: Stumbo has supported some anti-abortion bills during his time as a legislator, but has said he would not defend any unconstitutional laws.

Daniel Cameron: He is pro-life and has said he would defend any anti-abortion laws put forth by the constitution. He is endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Greg Stumbo: Supports it, Stumbo released an ad showing his support for medical marijuana.

Daniel Cameron: He opposes recreational use but says he is open to having a conversation about medical marijuana with members of the law enforcement community.

Secretary of State Candidates

KEEPING ELECTIONS SAFE

Michael Adams: Adams says one way to make elections secure is requiring a photo ID to vote. Adams says requiring an ID to vote is an easy way to prevent election tampering and voter fraud.

Heather French Henry: Election security is a top priority, Henry says she would like to hire a chief information security officer and one other cybersecurity employee whose only jobs would be making sure the voter registration system is secure.

PAPER BALLOTS

Michael Adams: Supportive of moving toward paper ballots to keep elections safe but acknowledges the cost to counties could be too high.

Heather French Henry: Supportive of paper ballots as well but realizes the costs to counties could be high.

Commissioner of Agriculture Candidates

Incumbent Ryan Quarles says he would like to continue the work he’s completed in his first term, he cites to his work expanding Kentucky Proud program, hunger initiatives and hemp program.

Democrat Robert Haley Conway says he entered the race to help Kentucky’s farmer—he cites the decline of small farms as troublesome as well as the increasing age of farmers and farmers entering bankruptcy.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Ryan Quarles: Says he is not opposed to it but it’s not his job to decide—he remains focused on growing the hemp industry in Kentucky.

Robert Haley Conway: Supports Medical and recreational marijuana as a means to help farmers who are hurting with the decline of tobacco. Conway believes hemp, medical and recreational marijuana could help offset the lost revenue but believes the agriculture commissioner needs to be the overseer of the hemp industry.

Treasurer Candidates

The treasurer acts as a watchdog for taxpayer dollars. Democrat Michael Bowman says one of the most important roles as treasurer is sitting on boards and commissions to determine how to spend taxpayer dollars. Bowman says with the seat on the Teachers Retirement Board it’s important to have an advocate for public schools.

Allison Ball has spent much of her first term focusing on financial literacy and financial responsibility. She vows to continue that work if re-elected to a second term highlighting the work done to create a website to list all of the spending, salaries, contracts, and property of Kentucky’s executive and judicial branches.

Auditor of Public Accounts

Republican incumbent Mike Harmon says he would like to complete the work he has done in his first four years. Harmon has coined the phrase “follow the data” and has touted his work reviewing the Administrative Office of the Courts and Kentucky Law Enforcement Fund. Harmon also recently audited the Kentucky Retirement Systems and found several things of concern within KRS and the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System, as a non-voting member of the Public Pension Oversight Committee, he vows to continue to bring transparency to the state’s pension systems.

Democrat Sheri Donahue says she wants to get rid of waste and fraud within government and wants to look into several things if elected. Donahue believes Martin County needs to be audited to find out if mismanagement within the county could have played a role in the water crisis. Donahue would also like to audit River Link Tolls, Donahue says she has heard horror stories from people who did not know that had a toll to find out they owed a bunch of money in late fees. Donahue also believes a more rigorous investigation of the retirement systems is needed.

If you need more information about the 2019 election, head to Spectrum News 1's 2019 Election Guide.