Ryan Quarles

Quarles ran in 2010 for the Kentucky House of Representatives for the 62nd District. He won a Republican primary with 60% of the vote.[5]

On October 2, 2010, Quarles was arrested in Lexington, Kentucky, for reckless driving. "A police report said Ryan Quarles, 26, was arrested ... about 3:10 a.m. Saturday. Quarles was driving ... through a parking lot, weaving through cars, the uniform citation said. The report said Quarles showed signs of intoxication and had a blood alcohol level of 0.067 when given a breath test. His blood alcohol level was below the legal limit of 0.08."[6] Quarles pleaded guilty in Fayette District Court, and paid a fine after the charge was lowered to careless driving.[7]

In November 2010, Quarles received 8,508 votes (51%) to incumbent State Representative Charlie Hoffman's 8,287 (49%), winning by 521 votes. In 2011, he was appointed to the House committees on Agriculture & Small Business, Banking & Insurance, and Education.[8]

Quarles ran for a second term in 2012. He again defeated Hoffman, 54% to 46%.[9]

Quarles ran for a third term in 2014. He ran in a district redrawn by the Democratic-controlled House to be more Democratic, drawing in territory which had previously not been part of the district. He was made a top target of the Democrats and his opponent, Charles Tackett, was a Scott County Magistrate. He won by his largest margin of victory, 59% to 41%.[10]

Quarles ran for Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture in 2015. He won the Republican nomination against fellow State Representative Richard Heath in a very close election, with 92,700 votes (50.39%), versus 91,273 votes (49.61%) for Heath. He had been endorsed by the incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture, James Comer,[11] and defeated Jean-Marie Lawson Spann in the general election.

Quarles ran for a second term in 2019. He won the Republican primary with 82% of the vote (and was the only Kentucky candidate with a primary challenger to win all of Kentucky's 120 counties), and won the general election with 58% of the vote.[12]

In February 2022, he lost the case of Kentucky Hemp Association vs. Quarles, with Kentucky's Boone Circuit Court declaring Delta-8 to be a legal derivative of hemp, and issuing an injunction against Quarles and Kentucky law enforcement preventing them from taking any action against people for selling Delta-8.[13][14][15] The lawsuit against Quarles was prompted by the Agriculture Commission having issued an advisory opinion that Delta-8 hemp products were not exempted from the federal controlled substances list, which was followed by Kentucky State Police raiding several lawful hemp retail stores in Kentucky and taking a wide variety of hemp products, money, and cameras, and charging store employees with marijuana trafficking.[15]

In June 2022, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, led by Daniel Cameron, concluded that the Kentucky Department of Agriculture violated Kentucky's open records law by failing to respond to a request for records related to any litigation involving Quarles, or involving the agriculture department during his tenure, that had been made by the Kentucky Democratic party.[16]

In April 2022, Quarles began a run for the Republican 2023 nomination for Governor of Kentucky.[17] In the primary, he ran against a number of Kentucky Republicans, including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and state auditor Mike Harmon.[18] Quarles officially filed his candidacy on January 4, 2023.[19]

Quarles campaigned aggressively in rural areas of the state and earned 235 endorsements from local officials.[20] He lost the Republican primary to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.[21]