2010 Senate Election
On April 9, 2009, Conway announced he was running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Jim Bunning. Conway became the third Democrat to enter the race, following Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo, who announced his candidacy in January, and former U.S. Customs agent Darlene Fitzgerald Price. Conway consulted with Democratic Congressman Ben Chandler and state Auditor Crit Luallen about running for the seat. Due to Conway's large margin of victory in his state-wide campaign for attorney general, his fundraising ability, and the age difference between Conway and Bunning, Conway was described as a viable candidate.
In May 2010, Daniel Mongiardo filed an ethics complaint against Conway alleging Conway received more than $70,000 in donations from utility company lobbyists for which he approved a $22 million rate increase from Louisville Gas & Electric. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that in a case about Atmos Energy "Conway announced March 12 that he had reached an agreement that reduced by 38 percent the company's original request for a rate hike of $9.4 million, cutting it to $5.9 million". Conway's spokeswoman stated that Conway has saved ratepayers "$100 million dollars by forcing proposed rate hikes to be lower in 18 cases before the PSC since 2008". Mongiardo alleged that Conway benefited from the rate increase because Conway owns assets in Kinder Morgan, a partner of Atmos Energy. On July 14, 2010 the ethics complaint against Conway was dropped and the Kentucky ethics panel stated "campaign contributions aren't considered gifts under the ethics code, and as a result the ethics commission doesn't have jurisdiction."
On May 18, 2010, Conway narrowly won the primary election to secure the Democratic nomination. After Bunning decided to retire, Conway faced Republican nominee Rand Paul for the Senate seat in November 2010.
Following the primary election Conway criticized Paul for his position on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He first claimed Paul wanted to "repeal" it and later stated that Paul rejected and would have opposed inclusion of a "fundamental provision of the act". Conway criticized Paul for a 2002 letter in which Paul opposed the Fair Housing Act. Paul had stated that "a free society" should allow discrimination by private businesses even if he disagreed. Conway argued that Paul held a "narrow, rigid philosophy that government shouldn't deal with businesses at all".
As of July 15, 2010, Conway had received $3.4 million in campaign contributions and loaned his campaign $525,000, surpassing Paul in available funds. Conway had been criticized by Paul for appearing at a fundraising event with a group of U.S. trial lawyers in Canada.
On October 15, 2010, in the wake of news coverage of Rand Paul's alleged activities in college, Conway began running a TV ad asking why Paul joined a group at Baylor that mocked Christianity and told a classmate his god was "Aqua Buddha." The ad triggered an angry response from Paul, who claimed Conway was questioning his Christian faith. The ad was controversial, but the Conway campaign continued to run it, saying that it questioned Paul's judgment, not his faith.
Read more about this topic: Jack Conway (politician)
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