KENTUCKY — Sen. Rand Paul fended off a challenge from Democratic challenger Charles Booker on Tuesday to win his third term as U.S. Senator.
Paul held his victory party at the Bowling Green Country Club in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
His race was one of the first Senate seats called on election night. Kentucky has one of the earliest poll closings in the country so control of the Senate was still up in the air at the time the announcement was made.
“As a red wave spreads across America... as America chooses a different direction... we don’t come together to celebrate the concentration of power... we come together to rejoice in the dissipation of power,” Paul told the crowd of his supporters.
“What’s driving this election is you can’t go to the grocery store without seeing they are destroying our money, the inflation is robbing us blind,” Paul added.
When asked what motivated him to run again, Paul said the nation’s debt played a big role. “There has to be someone in Washington who says no, and I say no often,” Paul told Spectrum News. “I say no because I don’t think we should spend money we don’t have.”
Despite having over $9 million in his campaign war chest in September, the incumbent senator did not run a very aggressive re-election campaign. His campaign dove into divisive culture war issues like transgender people taking part in college sports. Paul touted the endorsement of Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who is an outspoken opponent of transgender athletes in women’s sports. Gaines stumped for Paul and appeared in television ads as well.
Another fixture of Paul’s re-election campaign was that of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. In Senate hearings, Paul’s questioning of Fauci often became combative, with Paul demanding to more about the origin of the COVID-19 virus and of his advice during the pandemic. In a campaign promise, Paul pledged to subpoena every document from Fauci. “The most important thing is that we find the origin of the virus,” Paul told Spectrum News.
Elected in the Tea Party uprising in the midterms of 2010, Paul brought his libertarian brand of politics to Washington, with a myopic-focus on what he views as excessive government spending. He has relished his role as a contrarian, at times stymying legislation with broad bipartisan support to make his point. Just last spring, for example, Paul delayed Senate approval of an additional $40 billion to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia’s invasion. He was also one of two senators to vote against passage of legislation ensuring a victims’ compensation fund related to Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money.
A former state representative, Booker first challenged Amy McGrath for the chance to run against Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020. He narrowly lost that race, but turned his to long-term organizing through “Hood to the Holler” a nonprofit he founded to focus on voting rights and racial justice.
On July 1, 2021, Booker announced he was running again — this time for the seat held by Paul. Booker ran an ambitious grassroots campaign based on what he termed a “Kentucky New Deal” which focused on health care, green energy jobs and universal basic income. Booker also sought to rally passionate Democrats, independent voters and even disillusioned Republicans to his side in a 100-stop tour across the state in the waning days of the campaign.
The broad-based grassroots work was not enough for Booker to secure the victory. Paul will assume his third term as Kentucky’s Junior Senator in January.