LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With the general election just days away, another big ticket race for Kentuckians is the vote for state attorney general.
A former federal prosecutor is facing off against a state representative from Louisville, and the candidates each spoke to WHAS11 this week.
While Republican Russell Coleman, the former Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, and his campaign team repeatedly ignored requests for interview, WHAS11 was able to ask him one question while he was out on the campaign trail.
At a bus tour stop for Gubernatorial candidate and current Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, we asked what Coleman's priorities would be if elected. His proclaimed himself to be the law and order candidate in this race.
"Folks need to know that my priorities are violent crime [and] pushing back on the violence we're seeing all across our Commonwealth," he said. "I'm also focused on pushing back on the Biden administration, on a left-of-center agenda that's inserting itself into our lives."
Coleman and State Rep. Pam Stevenson, a Democrat, are each vying for the seat Cameron will leave open in January. Both candidates are looking to make history.
If Coleman were elected alongside Cameron, it'd be the first Republican governor-attorney general combo in 76 years.
Coleman told the crowd in Shelbyville Friday morning that he and Cameron would "fight against that poison pouring from over our porous Southwest border, for you and your families."
Meanwhile, Stevenson, also a 27-year Air Force veteran and colonel, aims to be the first Black woman to lead the attorney general's office in Kentucky history.
"I have over 40 years of legal experience," she said. "I have been a prosecutor [and] a criminal defense attorney."
One of Stevenson's biggest priorities is protecting the state's seniors from fraud and the youngest Kentuckians from abuse in the foster care system.
"[Many]children don't have homes," she said. "What are we doing so that they can fulfill the life that they have."
We asked both Stevenson and Coleman how they'd approach the job if the other party's candidate were elected governor.
"First of all, we're going to take the politics out of that office. You can not make a movie saying, 'I sued the governor 27 times,' because we have limited resources," Stevenson said.
Meanwhile, at the Shelbyville event Friday, Coleman didn't answer that question, saying his team had to get going to its next appearance.
The last time a Kentucky governor and attorney general both served under the same party at the same time was 2015, with then Gov. Steve Beshear and then Attorney General Jack Conway -- both Democrats.
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