Story by Alicia Steele, Staff writer, and Dylan Doyle, Contributing writer
Newly elected Gov. Matt Bevin speaks to supporters at Sirloin Stockade last week.
The Associated Press called the election Tuesday night with Matt Bevin as the Kentucky Governor-elect with 511,771 votes. Bevin took the win with 84,827 more votes than Democratic candidate Jack Conway.
Bevin won the race for Kentucky Governor by 52.5 percent of votes cast, compared to Conway’s 43.89 percent of votes cast.
With all of the counties reporting, only 30.7 percent of voters in Kentucky went to cast their vote, according to the Kentucky State Board of Elections.
President Bob Davies said he looks forward to working with Governor-elect Bevin, Lieutenant Governor-elect Jenean Hampton and the rest of the constitutional officers in the upcoming legislative session in order to advance Murray State.
“During the campaign I met with both of them [Governor-elect Bevin and Lieutenant Governor-elect Hampton] on multiple occasions and they’ve visited campus several times,” he said. “We’ve shared with them our strategic plan and I’m confident that they will be supportive of our efforts.”
Savannah Fikes, sophomore from Bardstown, Kentucky, is a registered Democrat who does not agree that Bevin should have won the race for governor.
“I personally didn’t want Bevin to win,” Fikes said. “But I just hope he does a good job.”
Fikes said she thinks it is important for college students to go vote during elections.
“They put their opinions on social media,” Fikes said. “But the only way they have a say is to vote.”
Samuel Gold, freshman from Benton, Kentucky, is also a registered Democrat. Gold, however, said he didn’t care who won the election.
“I believe I voted for him,” Gold said. “As long as it doesn’t affect my schooling in a negative way, I will be fine.”
Gold said he voted for Bevin because his parents told him to, but did agree that college students should go vote.
Alec Brock, junior from Louisville, Kentucky, is a registered Republican and political science major. Though a member of the Republican party, Brock was also in disagreement with Bevin’s win.
“I was upset,” Brock said. “I felt that any moderate Republican would have voted for Jack Conway. Conway isn’t much of a liberal, Bevin is a Tea Party radical.” Brock agreed that college students should go vote. “If you’re politically informed, you should go vote,” said Brock. “If you’re not politically informed, you should get politically informed and then vote.”
Brock said that voter turnout and Bevin’s win shows a problem with the current voting system.
He said that, in his opinion, Bevin would not have won had the two Republicans who ran against him in the primary election not been “mainstream” Republicans, splitting the “mainstream” vote.
“When it came down to the general election, Republicans would rather see a far-right Republican than a moderate Democrat,” he said.