Bevin and GOP slate urge Western Kentuckians to vote their values on bus tour
A sitting governor hasn’t visited Fordsville since 1974, when Gov. Wendell Ford, a Democrat, visited the small town of 529 people in Ohio County. That changed Friday when Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, got off a big black bus with his name emblazoned on the side at the Dunaway Timber Company.
“Are you going to change the name to Bevinsville now?” Bevin asked when he was informed of the history.
Fordsville was just one stop on a larger bus tour through Western Kentucky Friday, starting in Louisville and finishing in Hopkinsville, as the governor tries to shore up support in a once reliably Democratic area of the state that has now turned heavily Republican.
After a stop in Elizabethtown, the bus carried Bevin and the full slate of Republicans running for constitutional office this year — along with two cardboard cutouts of Democrat gubernatorial nominee Andy Beshear and one of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — down a road toward Fordsville dotted with political signs, mostly supporting district judge candidates or candidates in a special election for the State House. One homemade yard sign rejected politicians completely, opting for a message of “just be kind.”
Kindness and civility have been a key part of Attorney General Andy Beshear’s campaign to unseat Bevin. It’s a direct appeal to the current and retired teachers throughout the state who are angry with the governor’s flip comments about those who opposed his proposed pension overhaul plan.
“Folks, this election is going to decide if someone like Matt Bevin is the exception or the rule,” Beshear told Scott County Democrats Thursday night.
Teachers were on the minds of some of the people who came to hear Bevin speak in Fordsville.
“Retired teachers, they’re complaining a lot about nothing getting done,” said Jody Forgy, 77, of Morgantown. “I say, wait a minute, have you not seen what the governor’s already done for you?”
He was referencing money Bevin and the Republican legislature put toward the pension system, a key talking point for Bevin on the campaign trail as he pushes back against the narrative that he doesn’t support public education.
“In my opinion, every educator in Kentucky ought to hug his neck,” said David Lanham, 72, of Beaver Dam. He said teachers should be grateful that Bevin’s attempting to keep the pension system from going bankrupt.
But in his speeches in Elizabethtown and Fordsville, Bevin largely avoided talk about pensions or the specific issues in the governors race, beyond saying he is making the hard choices “to make Kentucky the greatest version of itself that it’s ever been.”
Instead, he turned to his biggest strengths on the campaign trail in a state where he’s widely unpopular — his conservative values and his relationship with President Donald Trump.
At both stops, Bevin trumpeted the Christian values he said remain a common thread through a region dotted with churches and billboards praising Jesus.
“Whatever your values are, whatever you care about, whatever you would fight for, whatever you would give everything to ensure your children and grandchildren have in their future,” Bevin said. “Whatever those values are, vote those values, not your party.”
One of the values Bevin talked about was the value of supporting Trump, who remains popular through much of Kentucky. On a raised platform in front of chopped trees waiting to be turned into lumber, Bevin referenced the Democrats’ attempts to impeach the president.
“So many people who are in either Washington D.C and on some of our coasts, want so desperately to undermine the legitimacy of a man who is fighting every day to make this nation the greatest version of itself,” Bevin said.
Trump has scheduled a rally in Lexington the day before the Nov. 5 election. On Friday, Bevin praised the president and called him “a good friend.”
“When have we ever as a state had two visits from the president?” Bevin said at a Shoney’s in Elizabethtown. “Why? Because this president and vice president respect you. They respect your values, they respect your appreciation for God and country, your respect for law enforcement, your respect for the work ethic upon which this nation was built.”
Bevin’s talk of values resonated with some of the voters who came out to see him. In front of a large truck with Bevin’s campaign emblem on the side, Mark Duvall of Leitchfield said he felt the whole state of Kentucky is pretty conservative.
“Everyone is voting their values,” Duvall said. “The right values are going to win the race.”
At both stops, Bevin implored people to vote.
“Are we winning? Of course we are,” Bevin said in Elizabethtown. “Is it a slam dunk? Never.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Bevin and GOP slate urge Western Kentuckians to vote their values on bus tour."
