One of Kentucky’s most prominent Republican lawmakers is vying for reelection against a political newcomer in this November’s election.
U.S. Rep. James Comer is gunning for his fifth term in Congress. He’ll face Democrat Erin Marshall, who’s making her first run for public office.
Comer has gained wide notoriety during his most recent term as a conservative leader chairing the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Through his position, he led an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden related to his "relationship with his family's foreign partners” and accused both the president and his son, Hunter Biden, of influence peddling.
Comer was not made available for an interview with WKMS regarding his reelection campaign. In an interview with WPSD Local 6, Comer cited a pair of national topics – southern border security and inflation – as the top concerns he’s heard from his constituents in the months leading up to the election.
“I've warned Americans about this with all the big spending bills – the Inflation Reduction Act, the infrastructure bill, all these big-spending COVID relief bills in the last two administrations,” said Comer. “I said this excessive spending is a result of the government printing money, which will lead to inflation. That's why when people go to the grocery store, it costs more every time than it did the last time.”
Comer also spoke about what he described as illegal immigrants’ negative impacts on the country, calling the matter a “national security concern.”
“I think people are seeing in every community – whether you live in Paducah or whether you live in Bardwell, it doesn't matter where you live – firsthand an influx of people from other countries that are coming in here,” he said. “This is a big expense to the American taxpayer.”
Marshall is a single mom who lives and works in her hometown of Frankfort as a sales communication manager for Kentucky-based printer manufacturer Lexmark. Prior to running, she worked on a number of political campaigns – including Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
She said her run for office is motivated by an opportunity to help her neighbors.
“I never, never saw myself running for office. I truly jumped into this for the future of my son and other families like ours, who, with just a little bit of help, life could be a little bit better, right? It doesn't take much,” Marshall said. “I think politics is truly about public service. I really believe that when we run and we have people that are challenging the people in office, it makes everyone better, and it makes it more clear what the issues are that matter.”
The decision to run was an emotional one for Marshall – coming in the immediate wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She said facing an unexpected pregnancy at 24 changed her life and that she “couldn’t fathom that girls and women in my home state would no longer have the choice” she did.
“Women, now, with no exceptions … they don't have access to the health care that I had access to at the time and took for granted,” she said. “When I thought about the fact that Representative Comer has the background that he does with choice and has been a proponent for women not to have reproductive freedom – and then some of the allegations about his past … it really infuriated me.”
Comer has previously been accused by his college girlfriend, Marilyn Thomas, of domestic abuse. In the same letter, she alleged that he drove her to a Louisville clinic in 1991 to get an abortion; something Marshall jabs at Comer over in her sole campaign ad. Comer denied both sets of allegations when they arose in 2015.
The Republican incumbent describes himself as “pro-life.”
“I certainly oppose abortion in the last trimester and things like that, but I believe we have to have exemptions,” Comer said in an August interview with WPSD. “Certainly there are cases where the mother's health is at risk … [and] there are instances of rape and incest where in no way, shape or form should the federal government force a young, 14-year-old girl or someone who's been raped or the victim of incest to have to make a choice they don't want to make.”
Marshall called her opponent “one of the least effective members of Congress in terms of pushing legislation” and accused him of “playing partisan games.”
“We see him on Fox News all the time talking about what we're doing with the Oversight Committee, but I really do think that that's a distraction from our issues at home, right?” Marshall said. “There are things that he's voted against that I deeply disagree with, things that could ultimately affect things like the saliency of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and our ability to feed kids across the district.”
The Democratic challenger said that, if she were to be elected, three of her top priorities would be advocating to protect reproductive rights, including IVF; striving to ensure better healthcare access for all Americans; and pushing for legislation and initiatives that benefit Kentucky’s agricultural community and economy. She also said she would make listening a priority of her administration.
“As different as our region can be from one end to the other, a lot of the things that drive us are the same. We all are caring about what it takes to have successful home lives and families and trying to figure out what we can do to make it better,” she said. “We have to do a better job listening and making sure that we're really servicing constituents as much as they deserve.”
Before being elected to federal office, Comer served as a Kentucky state representative and as the state’s commissioner of agriculture. He also mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2015, losing in the Republican primary to former Gov. Matt Bevin by less than 100 votes.
Comer also spoke in support of “all of the above energy policy” for the United States that incorporates a diverse mix of energy sources, asserting western Kentucky’s potential to play a role in the evolving nuclear energy industry.
“We can't all just be electric. We don't have the infrastructure to support the grid for electricity for new electric vehicles and all that,” he said. “We need to support coal. We need to support wind, we need to support solar, and we definitely need to support nuclear – and I think Paducah is the perfect place for nuclear.”
The election is Nov. 5. A list of races and ballot measures in western Kentucky and information on how and when to vote can be found here. More information on elections across the state can be found in the Kentucky Public Radio voter guide.
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