The Global Commonwealth

I’m up this morning in the Herald Leader, talking about why Kentuckians should care about international politics:

Foreign policy is generally regarded as irrelevant to state politics and even to state contests for national office. 2022 and 2023 have only partially followed that pattern, though, as foreign policy disagreements have played out in some of the 2022 races. Charles Booker has leaned into a line of attack against Rand Paul that challenges the Senator’s hands-off approach to the Russia-Ukraine War. In KY-6, challenger Geoff Young has harshly attacked incumbent Representative Andy Barr for the latter’s support of Kyiv. Of course foreign policy is unlikely to prove decisive in either race, but given Kentucky’s perceived insularity it’s a little surprising international politics have featured at all. Next year’s race for governor is also shaping up to have an international dimension.