By Cheyene Miller

cmiller@kykernel.com

After failing to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2010, Jack Conway thought long and hard about seeking a second term as Kentucky attorney general.

He and his wife Elizabeth sat down and discussed their options, coming to three conclusions: nothing would be as bad as the senate race, he shouldn’t make decisions that went against his gut, and he should focus on what he could do for the state.

After being re-elected attorney general, Conway discussed the possibility of running for governor with friend and current Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen.

“Somewhere along there I decided I wanted to run,” Conway said.

Conway said his upbringing in Louisville helped instill values that he influenced his duties as an elected official.

“I always had more of a ‘looking out toward the state perspective’ than most people from Louisville,” Conway said. “(My parents) really instilled in me the values of hard work and setting goals and trying to achieve them.”

Conway earned his law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1995, after which he joined former Kentucky governor Paul E. Patton’s campaign.

It was there where Patton and other Kentucky government figures started to push him toward a political career.

“They saw something in me that I quite frankly didn’t see in myself, which was that I could go beyond being a lawyer … and I could be a candidate myself,” Conway said.

When Conway told his wife Elizabeth he wanted to run for governor, she became a vital member of his campaign and support system.

“I couldn’t do it without my remarkable wife,” Conway said. “Elizabeth is just fantastic, and is a professional woman who is strong and gives me great advice.”

Conway said his daughters were too young to have a reaction when he first told them he was running for governor, but are now starting to understand.

“The challenge for us is to make it as normal as possible for those girls,” Conway said. “I very much want to be governor. I think I’m going to be the next governor of Kentucky, but I’ll never have a more important title than the title of dad.”

Conway is running against Republican candidate and businessman Matt Bevin, who he disagrees with on a number of policy issues.

“We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about anything other than policy,” Conway said. “My only interaction with him has been at debates and joint public appearances, and we don’t generally agree on much.”

Through all the political diatribes and partisanship, Conway said he respects Bevin as a family man.

“He has given an opportunity for a very good home to some children that otherwise wouldn’t have had one,” Conway said. “I think that’s something to be admired.”

The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.