Comer returns home to enter 2015 governor’s race

TOMPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer formally entered the 2015 race for governor on Tuesday in front of hundreds of hometown supporters in an ambitious campaign rollout more than a year before the election.

Comer announced Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel as his running mate. McDaniel is from a northern Kentucky area that is reliably Republican but has not turned out in significant numbers in past gubernatorial primaries.

A former state representative, Comer is the only Republican statewide constitutional officer in a state that is still dominated by Democrats at the local level but frequently votes Republican in federal elections. He joins former Louisville Metro Councilman Hal Heiner as the only candidates in the Republican field. Attorney General Jack Conway is the only Democrat who has formally entered the race.

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