In what could be a big get for Republicans in Kentucky — and a huge blow for Republicans in the House of Representatives — Rep. James Comer has openly announced that he plans to run for governor come 2027.
Speaking to The Daily Independent in a piece published May 7, Comer made it clear that he felt that this was the right decision.
“I plan on running for governor in 2027,” Comer said. “It’s not official yet; it will probably be official somewhere around December.”
He continued: “I am touring Kentucky. Obviously I’m way outside of my district. The governor’s race is in 2027 and I’m very interested in that race… Any day I’m not in Washington or my district, I’m stirring around the state.”
“The response has been positive. I’m meeting new people and building an organization for 2027.”
(Incumbent Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will be termed out in 2027.)
According to The Hill, this is actually Comer’s second stab at governor in the Bluegrass State. He had previously come up short in the 2015 Republican Primary by less than 100 votes.
But not every Kentucky election has been agonizing for Comer.
In fact, many have likely elicited quite the opposite emotion.
As his House biography points out, Comer won and served six terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives, with the first coming in 2000.
From there, Comer would eventually be elected as Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture in 2011. This would eventually culminate with his election to Congress in 2016, where he has been ever since.
And Comer has built quite the reputation among conservatives since getting to the House a decade ago.
Comer is both the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and a member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce. He’s used those platforms to pursue a number of conservative agenda items.
One of the more prominent recent examples includes Comer’s attempts to get to the bottom of the rampant fraud scandals that rocked Minnesota in late 2025.
🚨 Chairman Comer opens our hearing EXPOSING Minnesota fraud.@RepJamesComer: “Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota’s Democratic leadership have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in these crimes.”
Time for accountability. pic.twitter.com/h5FU6CEFGK
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 7, 2026
Comer has also spearheaded the investigation into some of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent friends — including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In fact, in August 2025, Comer issued a subpoena against a number of officials, including the Clintons.
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