Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, who has worked to expand early voting in the Bluegrass State and spoken out against election denialism within his own party, is featured in this year’s John F. Kennedy Profile. – Selected as a recipient of the In Courage Award.
The JFK Library Foundation said in an announcement Monday that Adams was recognized “for his work in expanding voting rights and standing up for free and fair elections despite political opposition and death threats from election naysayers.” said.
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Adams, whose signature policy goals are to make voting easier and harder to cheat, is spearheading a bipartisan effort with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to seek an early three-day excuse. This led to the enactment of a 2021 bill that would allow a period of no. In-person voting before Election Day (including Saturdays). Adams hailed it as the most significant election law reform in Kentucky in more than 100 years. Adams’ office announced Monday that about one-fifth of Kentuckians who voted in last year’s statewide election did so during three days of early voting.
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams speaks in the State Capitol Rotunda on January 2, 2024 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Adams, who has worked to expand early voting in the Bluegrass State and spoken out against election denialism within his own party, announced on Monday, May 6, this year’s John F. Selected as a recipient of the Profile in Courage Award. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
As the state’s top elections official, Adams has strongly pushed back against false claims of election fraud, calling election skeptics “weirdos and freaks.”
“There’s a lot of irresponsible chatter and demagoguery out there that our elections were hacked,” Adams said in a 2022 Spectrum News 1 interview. It has never been hacked, and it hasn’t been hacked yet.”
Adams, first elected in 2019, won re-election by a wide margin last year after winning a party primary that included a challenger who touted claims that debunked the election.
Adams, a Kentucky native and graduate of Harvard Law School, said Monday that President Kennedy’s “admonition to put country before self still resonates and is more true than ever.”
“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of election officials and poll workers across the country who were inspired by his call and made sacrifices to keep America’s self-governance experiment alive,” he added.
Adams is part of an effort begun after the last presidential election to rally Republican officials willing to protect the nation’s election system and the people who run it. They are calling on officials to reinforce the message that the election is secure and accurate, arguing that is especially important as the country heads toward another divisive presidential election in November. There is.
“It’s incumbent on the Republican Party to stand up to protect the Republican establishment, because our party bears some responsibility for where we are,” Adams said recently. “But it’s also strategically smart for Republicans to say, ‘Republicans, you can trust this. Please stay home.'”
At a recent campaign rally, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president this year, repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged by Democrats.
A poll conducted in December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only 24 Republicans say they are very or very confident that votes will be counted accurately in the 2024 presidential election. %was.
Adams is seen as a strong candidate for governor in 2027, when he and Beshear are term-limited.
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JFK Library Foundation President Emeritus Caroline Kennedy and her son Jack Schlossberg will present the award to Adams on June 9 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
President Kennedy’s book Profiles of Courage details the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands against unpopular positions. Past recipients of the Profile in Courage Award include former U.S. presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
