Matt Jones | |
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 Jones in 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Matthew Harper Jones August 28, 1978 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | Transylvania University (BA) Duke University (JD) |
Matthew Harper Jones (born August 28, 1978) is an American attorney, businessman, radio host, author, and investor in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jones was born in Lexington, Kentucky and raised in Middlesboro, Kentucky. He was raised by a single mother who practiced law, in nearby Pineville, Kentucky, serving as the Commonwealth's Attorney for Bell County. [1] Jones attended Transylvania University on a full scholarship, before receiving a scholarship to Duke Law School, where he graduated second in his class. [2]
After graduating from Duke Law School, Jones returned to Kentucky to practice law, before founding Kentucky Sports Radio (colloquially known by its initials, "KSR"), a website and radio show dedicated to sports coverage involving the University of Kentucky Wildcats, in 2005. Jones bounced around several smaller radio shows, before launching KSR as a radio show, in 2010. [2] The radio show's flagship stations are WKRD in Louisville and WLAP in Lexington, and it is syndicated to 50 radio stations, in 37 markets, in Kentucky and surrounding states. [3] Jones and KSR also oversee a small network of podcasts based on the KSR brand and featuring personalities from both the KSR website and radio show.
Since founding Kentucky Sports Radio, Jones has used his media platform to discuss both sports and politics. In 2014, he hosted live one-on-one conversations with both then-incumbent Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and his challenger Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. [4] The conversation with Grimes, on September 25, lasted 20 minutes and was noted by The Daily Beast as "perhaps her most substantive interview." [5] Unlike Grimes, whose interview was in-studio, McConnell's interview was a spur-of-the-moment, unannounced phone call to the program, two weeks later, and was described as "emotional and combative." [5]
The next year, Jones hosted a Republican gubernatorial primary debate between the four candidates vying to win the Republican nomination for Kentucky Governor. Jones has stated that he thinks this debate, three weeks before the primary election, contributed to Matt Bevin's 86-vote primary victory. Jones was also selected as the emcee for the annual Fancy Farm political picnic, the traditional start to Kentucky's fall campaign season, in August 2015. [6]
During the 2023–24 college basketball season, Jones responded to a 35-point performance by Robbie Avila for Indiana State against Evansville with a tweet featuring an Avila highlights video. In the post, Jones gave Avila the nickname "Cream Abdul Jabbar", referring to Avila playing the same position as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (center) and wearing goggles on the court. The nickname quickly went viral. [7]
From September 2016 until July 2019, Jones also hosted "Hey Kentucky!", a nightly sports and news recap program on WLEX-TV in Lexington, since also syndicated to WBNA in Louisville. [8] On "Hey Kentucky!", Jones was joined, nightly, by rotating co-hosts, with some overlap with the KSR radio show.
In 2018, Jones opened Kentucky Sports Bar and Grille, a sports bar in Lexington connected to the KSR brand and colloquially known as "KSBar". [9] [10]
On January 5, 2021, Jones and Craig Greenberg, former CEO of 21c Museum Hotels, were announced as lead investors in a group that purchased a majority stake in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a Louisville-based independent professional wrestling promotion. Under the agreement, wrestling veteran Al Snow continues to run OVW's day-to-day operations. [11] On August 21, 2023, Netflix announced a seven episode docuseries titled Wrestlers , based on OVW and offering a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional wrestling. [12]
Jones' background as a lawyer, frequent discussion of politics on KSR, and high name recognition among Kentuckians led many experts to consider him a potential candidate. [13] [14] He was courted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to run for the 6th district U.S. House seat occupied by Representative Andy Barr, in 2016, but ultimately, he declined to run. [15] Jones had gone so far as to attend a "boot camp" for potential Democratic candidates in Washington, D.C., during the lead-in to the House race, but the experience left him disillusioned with the national Democratic Party. In a 2018 interview for Politico Magazine , he recalled one prominent member of Congress telling the attendees that positions on issues were far less important than campaign fundraising; Jones would call this "one of the most depressing things [he'd] ever heard." [2]
Jones also considered running for Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate in 2020 but he announced on November 15, 2019, that he would not enter the race. [13] [14] [16] This public flirtation with the 2020 U.S. Senate race caused WLEX to permanently remove him from his role as host of "Hey Kentucky!”. [17] In response, the next day, Jones announced that WLEX had permanently ended his run as host of "Hey Kentucky!" [18]
The aforementioned Politico story added, [2]
Defining Jones' political identity is a slippery task—even for those in Kentucky who listen to him every day. When pressed, he identifies as a "Southern populist progressive," wary of using the term "liberal" in his home state. He is a proponent of Obamacare and marijuana legalization, generally an advocate of free trade and lowering the corporate tax, bullish on union rights and a vocal opponent of corporate welfare. These stances almost universally find root not in party allegiance but in the effect on Kentucky’s working class, a mooring so deep that Jones says he would vote against his personal beliefs in the Senate—on coal, for instance—if he felt it was in the best interest of his constituents.
On August 15, Jones announced that he had been approached to write a book and had accepted. The book, tentatively titled Mitch, Please!, would take him around all of Kentucky's 120 counties, in order to make his case that McConnell had failed the citizens of Kentucky. [19] Mitch, Please!: How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America, Too), which was co-written with Chris Tomlin, was published in March 2020 and debuted 11th on the New York Times Best Sellers List. [20] [21] In his book, Jones is highly critical of McConnell and the impact of his decisions in his over 35 years in the U.S. Senate, at times, calling him "the most destructive force in American democracy" and stating that "[McConnell] will say anything, do anything, or take any position, if it means helping him gain more political power." [22] Jones' criticisms of McConnell were met with some criticisms of the book, itself, comparing the story of the 120 county road trip to walking or dragging a dead dog, noting that the book would have been a "minor classic,” at half the size. [23] In the final chapter, Jones explains his thought process behind not running against McConnell in the 2020 race, stating that his heart wasn't in it. [22] Jones stated "I used the idea of a book about Mitch to write about Kentucky and explore my thought process." [24]
While Jones identifies as a progressive, Politico has said that he "espouses a doctrine of empathy that you won’t hear from many liberals, today." Jones has said "I wish the people that I love didn’t like Donald Trump, but I understand why they do," and he claims to regularly talk to more conservatives than any other progressive in the U.S., estimating that 80% of his listeners voted for Trump in 2016. Jones' criticism of Kentucky political figures is not limited to Republicans; he has publicly labeled the state's Democratic Party as "a disaster.” At a Democratic banquet held the night before the 2016 Fancy Farm picnic, he blasted the party for abandoning working-class voters, focusing on liberal strongholds in Louisville and Lexington, and compromising on core values to appeal to conservatives. [2]
Addison Mitchell McConnell III is an American politician and retired attorney who has been serving as Senate minority leader since 2021 and the senior United States senator from Kentucky since 1985, the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. McConnell has been the leader of the Senate Republican Conference since 2007, including as majority leader from 2015 to 2021, making him the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
Wendell Hampton Ford was an American politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Governor of Kentucky from 1971 to 1974, and as a member of the United States Senate for 24 years from 1974 to 1999. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and United States senator in Kentucky history. He was the Senate Democratic whip from 1991 to 1999, and was considered the leader of the state's Democratic Party from his election as governor in 1971 until he retired from the Senate in 1999. At the time of his retirement he was the longest-serving senator in Kentucky's history, a mark which was then surpassed by Mitch McConnell in 2009. Ford is the last Democrat to have served as a Senator from the state of Kentucky.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental territory based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow, Matt Jones, and Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg.
Matthew Lee Cappotelli was an American professional wrestler. After co-winning Tough Enough III with John Hennigan, he worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), the primary developmental territory for WWE. He ended his career due to a malignant brain tumor.
Walter Darlington "Dee" Huddleston was an American commercial broadcaster and politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served two terms as a member of the United States Senate from 1973 to 1985. He was defeated for re-election in 1984 by Mitch McConnell by 5,269 votes.
John Jeter is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2006 as Johnny, a member of The Spirit Squad.
Scott Jennings is an American political strategist and writer. He worked in the George W. Bush administration and has been described as an adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell. He is an opinion contributor for CNN, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 4, 2008. Minority Leader and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell won re-election to a fifth term. Although Barack Obama lost Kentucky by a 16.22% margin to John McCain in the concurrent presidential election, McConnell more narrowly kept his seat with a 5.94% margin against businessman Bruce Lunsford. This was a greatly reduced margin from when he won re-election in 2002 with a 29.4% margin.
Alison Case Lundergan Grimes is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who was the secretary of state of Kentucky from 2012 until 2020. Grimes was elected in 2011 after defeating incumbent Elaine Walker in the Democratic primary and Republican candidate Bill Johnson in the general election. She was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2014, unsuccessfully challenging Republican incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. She was re-elected for a second term as Secretary of State of Kentucky on November 3, 2015, defeating Republican Stephen Knipper. Term limited in 2019, she was succeeded by Republican Michael Adams.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Kentucky, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2015. Incumbent Democratic governor Steve Beshear was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits. Primary elections were held on May 19, 2015.
Matthew Griswold Bevin is an American businessman and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky from 2015 to 2019. He is currently the CEO of Neuronetrix Solutions, LLC.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Kentucky on November 3, 2015. All of Kentucky's executive officers were up for election. Primary elections were held on May 19, 2015.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held November 8, 2016 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Kentucky, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held May 17.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Kentucky, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who had been Senate Majority Leader since 2015 and senator from Kentucky since 1985, won reelection to a seventh term in office. He faced off against former U.S. Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath and Libertarian Brad Barron.
The 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2019, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Kentucky. The Democratic nominee, Andy Beshear, defeated Republican Incumbent governor Matt Bevin. It was the closest gubernatorial election by votes since 1899. It was the closest race of the 2019 gubernatorial election cycle.
Amy Melinda McGrath is an American former Marine fighter pilot and former political candidate from Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, as well as the first to pilot the F/A-18 on a combat mission. During her 20 years of service in the Marine Corps, McGrath flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Toward the end of her service, McGrath worked domestically as a political adviser, a liaison officer, and an instructor at the United States Naval Academy.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent Kentucky. Incumbent Republican Rand Paul won re-election to a third term, defeating Democratic nominee Charles Booker with 61.8% of the vote.
Charles Booker is an American politician from the commonwealth of Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing the 43rd district from 2019 to 2021. During his term, he was Kentucky's youngest Black state lawmaker.
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