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LOUISVILLE, Ky. When James Comers phone buzzed Monday night, he had just finished tangling with the three Republicans angling to crush him in next weeks Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary. The campaign had hit its ugly zenith a week earlier, when Comers ex-girlfriend accused him of hitting her decades earlier when they were in college together.

The message on his phone, though, was an uplifting one: Hang in there. And it came from an unlikely source: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

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Basically, he tells me to keep my head up, Comer told POLITICO after a local Republican Party function here on Thursday night. Comer began to explain that Paul himself had been a victim of similar controversies before an aide ended the interview.

Pauls communication, during one of the nastiest Republican-on-Republican brawls in recent memory, was remarkable because the first-term senator, who announced a bid for president last month, has remained neutral in the four-way primary, despite close ties to Comer in the past. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also from Kentucky, has declined to intervene in the race as well.

Their silence has been noticeable in a contest that has otherwise tested and frayed Republican allegiances in the close-knit state, featured a hail of super PAC spending and a host of personal attacks. Both senators also have a political stake in the outcome.

Paul needs the states next governor to help drive legal changes that will allow him to run for his Senate seat next year while he seeks the White House. And McConnell is standing by as the man who tried to unseat him last year conservative businessman Matt Bevin inches closer to the nomination.

Bevin, Comer and Louisville businessman Hal Heiner are locked in a three-way tie just days from next Tuesdays primary, according to recent polls. All three candidates shrug off the significance of endorsements. Ive pretty much been on my own in the race, but Im proud of what Ive done, said Comer, the states agriculture commissioner.

But in a race this close, the smallest shift of the needle could affect the outcome.

The winner will take on the all-but-certain Democratic nominee, Attorney General Jack Conway. Democrats have held Kentuckys governorship for 36 of the last 40 years, a startling reality in a state that votes reliably Republican in federal elections.

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Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul lie low in Kentucky primary ...