Matt Bevin concedes Kentucky governor race. ‘We’re going to have a change.’
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin conceded the race for governor Thursday, ending more than a week of speculation about whether he would contest the results of the Nov. 5 election, which he narrowly lost to Democrat Andy Beshear.
Bevin’s announcement came after a statewide recanvass showed minimal changes in election totals. Beshear won by less than 0.5 percentage points.
“We’re going to have a change in the governorship based on the vote of the people,” Bevin said in a news conference in front of the governor’s office. “What I want is to see the absolute best for Kentucky. I’m not going to contest these numbers that have come in. It isn’t fair to throw that on the legislature to find something that just isn’t.”
The announcement brings closure to Bevin’s four years as governor of Kentucky, a term defined by a wave of conservative legislation and Bevin’s penchant for picking political fights.
In his concession speech, Bevin attempted to focus on the accomplishments of his term rather than the battles, saying he brought needed attention to the state’s pension troubles and helped break economic records. He made a point to thank his staff, calling them qualified, professional, dedicated, competent and “ethically upright.”
“We’ve set the bar for what people should expect of government,” Bevin said. “People should not expect corruption, they should not expect people getting contracts that they didn’t earn or deserve or that they’re not qualified for. They should expect people who come to work every day and work long hard hours on behalf of the people of Kentucky.”
He also wished Beshear, the attorney general, well as the the next governor. Beshear will take office Dec. 10.
“I truly wish the attorney general well as the next governor of the state as he assumes these responsibilities. I truly do,” Bevin said. “I love this state, I love this country, I love the fact that we’re blessed to live in a nation where things transition in ways that much of the world wishes they had.”
In his own news conference at the Kentucky Education Association headquarters in Frankfort, Beshear thanked Bevin but said he had not heard from the governor.
“It was a tough race but it’s over,” Beshear said. “And I appreciate that his administration is already moving forward in a smooth transition.”
Bevin had stoked speculation that he would contest the election with the General Assembly — his only option for challenging the results aside from a recanvass — after he cited “irregularities” in the election without providing any evidence to back up his claim.
A recanvass of the official vote totals in all 120 counties, which was conducted Thursday at Bevin’s request, changed just one vote in the governor’s race — a write-in vote for Blackii Effing White that hadn’t been counted in Casey County.
Beshear defeated Bevin by 5,136 votes according to the recanvass results. The State Board of Elections will meet to certify the results on November 21st.
Despite conceding, Bevin reiterated his claim Thursday that thousands of absentee ballots were improperly counted, once again without presenting any evidence of his claims.
“These too would not change the outcome,” Bevin said. “It would change it by some thousands, but instead of it being now some thousands, it would be 1,000 or some hundreds but either way it would be the same end result.”
Bevin also took a swipe at the election process at the end of his remarks, saying Secretary of State-elect Michael Adams, a Republican, will have to make the process more transparent.
“There is not any real sense of transparency for how the voting process works,” Bevin said. “What you are going to see is that we do not have checks and balances.”
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said at no point since the election has Bevin contacted her office with allegations of voter fraud or election irregularities, so she has no idea what problems he’s referring to in his public statements. Grimes said she’s confident in the roughly 15,000 precinct workers from both parties who ran the election.
“By no means is there any vast conspiracy to hurt any one candidate or party,” Grimes said.
Republicans in the legislature urged Bevin to concede after the recanvass unless he could provide evidence of voter fraud, but many still did not know what Bevin, who has a reputation for being unpredictable, would do as his news conference began Thursday afternoon.
Later, House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, thanked Bevin for his service as governor.
“With today’s concession announcement, the governor put the people of Kentucky first and ensured that their voices are heard and their votes respected,” Osborne said. “It is our hope that it also cements his own legacy as a leader willing to address the most controversial, unpopular issues if they are critical to this state.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 2:24 PM.
