By Joshua Qualls

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Independent gubernatorial candidate Drew Curtis donned a purple blazer and green sneakers, laughing and drinking beers with supporters at the Chase Tap Room and Brewing Company as his draw hovered around 4 percent of the vote on election night.

Curtis, a Lexington native who lives in Versailles, ran for governor focusing mainly on his business experience, admitting often that he did not have any political experience and did not consider himself a politician. He is the founder, CEO and sole owner of Fark, Inc., an online community where people re-post articles with satirical headlines.

Curtis was guest of honor on the election night edition of the “FARKcast Podcast,” making jokes about the election and riffing about moments from the gubernatorial race. His friend Tony “Twitch” Frank, a disc jockey on radio station WXZZ, hosted the podcast.

“All the local (reporters) who drew the long straw are here tonight,” said Curtis, surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic supporters. “All the short straw guys are in Louisville with (Republican Governor-Elect Matt Bevin).”

During the podcast Curtis was seated next to his wife and running-mate, Heather Curtis, who serves as Fark’s chief operating officer.

Frank said the podcast was to celebrate Curtis’ big win, but they quickly shifted gear and exchanged jokes about making an early concession speech.

Despite knowing he was probably not going to win, Curtis, who considers himself to be “pragmatic” about politics, later said the first thing he would do as governor would be to change the state budgeting process.

“Right now they have the budget in a room and they’ve got a rope and a guard out in front of it,” Curtis said. “That’s ridiculous.”

Curtis and Frank humorously discussed some of the major talking points from the race, including education.

“There are other races I might win,” Curtis said. “A friend of ours wrote me in for a school board in Minneapolis, so I might have a dual job coming in.”

Curtis’ plan for the Minneapolis school board was to shut it down.

“We don’t need schools in Minneapolis,” he said. “The schools in Minnesota are so good, we don’t need them.”

One of Curtis’ guests was Geoff Young, a Democratic candidate who lost to Jack Conway during the primaries.

“I actually endorsed Drew Curtis because Bevin is evil on the issues, and Conway is stupid,” Young said. Young and Curtis met shortly after the primary and became friends.

Some of Curtis’ supporters wore purple to represent the Independent Party, while others wore patriotic-themed costumes. His campaign manager, Andrew Sowders, wore a Star-Spangled Banner suit.

Curtis said the Democratic and Republican parties approached him to talk about running for U.S. Senator Rand Paul’s seat in Congress, but he decided against it.

“I’m not enough like one of the parties for that to even make sense, so I couldn’t do it,” Curtis said. “I don’t think I’m going to run as an Independent because I need a year off, honestly — it’s just not a job I want.”