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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Wanda Cornelius |
| Address |
Campbellsville, Kentucky , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
October 10, 1944
(79 years)
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| Contributor | Not in Public Domain |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Dec 25, 2017 05:28pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Wanda Cornelius is a coal miner's daughter, devoted wife, mother of three, former teacher, businesswoman, gospel and country music singer, political activist, church-goer and all-around do-gooder.
Now, she's adding another line to her lengthy resume: candidate for lieutenant governor.
Other Kentuckians might be surprised to see her name atop the ballot for one of the state's highest elected offices, considering that she's never run for statewide office before and is a stranger to most people outside of her home county.
But not Ms. Cornelius. If someone had marched up to her a year ago and told her she would be running for lieutenant governor, ''I would have said, 'Oooh, that sounds good. I would like to try that.'''
That is, in fact, how she wound up on the ballot.
Ms. Cornelius was attending a Republican Federation of Women meeting in Elizabethtown in January when she met Peppy Martin, a Hart County publicist who was planning to run for governor.
Kentucky election laws require candidates for governor to choose a running mate to appear on the ticket and run with them as a slate. Miss Martin, a little-known politico who had run for public office only once before (and lost), was having a devil of a time getting someone to be her running mate. All the while, the clock was ticking. The filing deadline was two weeks away.
Miss Martin struck up a conversation with Ms. Cornelius and told her she was planning to run for governor.
''I said, 'I love politics and I love running for office. I've often thought of doing that myself,' '' Ms. Cornelius recalled. ''And she just said, 'Run with me.' ''
Voila. The Martin-Cornelius ticket was born.
Since then, Miss Martin and Ms. Cornelius have been hitting the campaign trail, traveling from Pikeville to Paducah, although seldom together. Miss Martin has been to all but a dozen or so of the state's 120 counties, while Ms. Cornelius has concentrated mostly on the eastern and southern parts of the state.
They squeaked by the husband-and-wife ticket of David and Joanna Williams to win the Republican nomination in Tuesday's primary, but oddsmakers give them almost no chance of unseating the Democratic incumbents, Gov. Paul Patton and Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, in November.
But, like her running mate, Ms. Cornelius pays no attention to the odds.
''I think Patton probably takes us more seriously,'' she said. ''He is getting out there; he is working. He is going to these towns and meeting people and taking credit for getting jobs. I think he takes us more seriously than the papers and a lot of people.''
Ms. Cornelius, 50, is one of 10 children born to a coal miner in Harlan County. When she was 4, the family moved to Whitley County, near the Tennessee border, where she was raised. She taught elementary school for two years before quitting to raise a family of her own.
These days she and her husband, Lewis, live in Taylor County, where she owns and operates a weight-loss center, sits on the county school board and is co-chairwoman of the county Republican Party.
Occasionally, she entertains herself and others by singing gospel and country music, performing mostly in church and at Republican functions.
She's a big fan of that famous coal miner's daughter, Loretta Lynn, and describes her voice as being somewhere ''between Loretta and Dolly. . .real soulful.'' In her campaign literature, she says she looks forward to the time when ''we can lower taxes enough for celebrities like Loretta to afford to move home to Kentucky.''
Ms. Cornelius said her family has been supportive of her decision to run for lieutenant governor. Her husband, an obstetrician-gynecologist, is helping her and Miss Martin formulate their platform.
''He is really into this,'' Ms. Cornelius said.
Why is she running?
''This may sound sort of too good to be true, too sweet and syrupy,'' she said. ''But that's me. I am running because I do have a deep concern and a deep care for the people of Kentucky.''
Also, ''I did it because I felt like we needed a Republican. It was like everybody else was afraid to do it. We've got a lot of well-known names out there, but none of them wanted to take a chance. 'Oh, gee, I might lose.' We might lose a lot of things in life, but if we don't try, we certainly aren't going to win.''
To the skeptics, including those in her own party who have given up any hope of toppling Patton and Henry, she says:
''We've got a lot of Republicans out there who remember what it is to be a Republican. They don't sell out. We have Republicans that sell out, and it's just for what they can get out of it and how are they going to advance their career.
''We have got a lot of hard-core Republicans and a lot of good, good people who are Democrats who will be behind us.''
If elected, she sees herself as being a goodwill ambassador for the governor, promoting tourism and possibly serving as the state's educational liaison.
''My job will always be to try to find out what's going on, what's in the works, what we can do to help, what's best for Kentucky's kids, the teachers and the people who work at the schools,'' she said.
If she doesn't win?
''There's life after politics. I probably will have to sing some more. After politics, after this, I will still do what Wanda does best - and that is be of service to other people.''
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