By Cheyene Miller

Conway supports Medicaid expansions and private enrollment under Kynect, the state’s online insurance market, and once said he “would have been proud” to vote for the Affordable Care Act.

Bevin has said he would try and dismantle the ACA in Kentucky on his first day in office and encourage free market health insurance.

For UK students, the funding of higher education could be an issue to look out for, said journalism professor and former Louisville Courier-Journal political writer Al Cross.

“In this state we’ve had lots of tuition increases that have been far beyond inflation,” Cross said.

Bevin suggested in a forum with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce that he would not support an increase in state funding for universities, saying he’s “not going to promise money we don’t have.”

Conway hinted that he was open to the idea, saying he would “try to restore some of the funding” for state universities to the 2007 level, which was about 10 percent more.

Some of the exchanges between candidates have been personal, with Conway stealing a line from McConnell’s 2014 primary campaign and calling Bevin an “East Coast con-man,” with a shady business background.

“After all these questions, Matt Bevin still won’t release his tax returns, just like I have and just like Republicans have in the past,” Conway said during his speech at Fancy Farm Picnic.

Bevin said the Democratic Party’s years of dominance in state government have hurt Kentucky, and he blamed Democrats for their involvement in a lawsuit settlement when several staff members accused Democratic House members of sexual harassment.

“I can’t even imagine a locker room anywhere that you would find this kind of behavior, let alone from elected officials in the state’s Capitol,” Bevin said to a group of reporters after a Republican dinner.

The most recent Bluegrass Poll released in late July has Conway with a slight lead over Bevin, with 45 percent of voters saying they would vote for Conway and 42 percent for Bevin.  Thirteen percent were undecided.

The election will be on Tuesday, Nov. 3.