‘You’ve got to earn this job’: Beshear hits campaign trail days into general election season
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wasted no time getting back into campaign mode after the Tuesday primaries, shifting his re-election effort into high gear with a 12-city, 3-day bus tour across the commonwealth.
At back-to-back Sunday stops in Louisville, Beshear’s message made it clear he’s not planning to shy away from issues where Republicans have already been attacking him for months — namely his record on education and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I truly believe in that phrase you hear every election, that this is the most important election of our lifetime,” Beshear said to a standing-room only crowd at the campaign field office in the Highlands neighborhood. “Now, I get it. I get it. Go back to 2019. We thought that we thought the race was about right versus wrong. Turns out, it was about life versus death. Everything you did to help us win that election, thank you for helping us save tens of thousands of lives.”
Beshear, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019. Earlier that year, Bevin said he intentionally exposed all of his children to the chickenpox instead of vaccinating them. Since leaving office, Bevin has downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, which has killed more than 18,600 Kentuckians.
This November, Beshear faces off against Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the Republican nominee for Kentucky’s highest office. It is expected to be the most expensive and closely watched race in the nation this year.
Having emerged at the top of a 12-way contest that just ended Tuesday, Cameron is not yet airing television ads, but he has appeared on Fox News.
“You talk about somebody that divided us, Andy Beshear spent nearly two years dividing us because he told people that cared about faith and cared about Christ that rather than go to church, they needed to stay at home,” Cameron told host Laura Ingraham. “And rather than have our kids learn and be educated, he had them sit at home, and because of that, again, we have nearly two years of learning loss and we’re still trying to dig our way out.”
Former Gov. Steve Beshear — the current governor’s father — also appeared in Louisville Sunday, stumping for his son. Kentuckians, he said, wanted a courageous leader who could make “difficult decisions even when it wasn’t in their best interest politically to do so.”
“Look at this record. Look at what they did in the pandemic’ they threw politics out the window,” the elder Beshear said. “They said you know what, life and death is not Republican or Democrat, and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to keep our people alive. And that’s exactly what they did. You know, other governors were running for political cover. This governor didn’t, and you know, something 60% approval rating later, I think...”
The crowd broke into applause, drowning out the former governor.
Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, a former educator, told the crowds at both stops that Kentucky traded in “the least popular Republican governor in the country for the most popular Democratic governor.”
“It is a re-election year. And you know it’s an election year, not just because of the terrible ads you’ve seen on TV, but because here we are again, and Kentucky’s teachers are under attack yet again in another election year,” Coleman said. “And let me tell you something our opponent dusted off Matt Bevin’s old playbook. He’s out there dividing and disrespecting our teachers, and it didn’t work then and I’m gonna tell y’all what, it’s not gonna work now, either.”
At the second Louisville stop, hosted at The Palm Room in the city’s West End, several educators waved their “Teachers for Andy” signs and posed for photos with the governor, including Cassie Lyles and Christie Mudd.
“Getting Andy re-elected is one of the most important things we can do for teachers. It’s clear that he is 100% supportive of public education and of educators and of our students, and that’s our number one priority,” Lyles, a high school civics teacher, said.
In his primary night victory speech, Cameron said schools are “on the verge of becoming breeding grounds for liberal and progressive ideas.”
In response, Mudd, an elementary school teacher, said many politicians don’t actually know what it’s like to be an educator.
“I hope that everyone knows that at the end of the day, our goal is to help our students be the best version of themselves they can be,” Mudd said. “And that I hope that my classroom is a place of love and support. ... At the end of the day if you have questions about education, ask the teachers in your community. They’ll tell you.”
Speaking after the first event in Louisville, Beshear said he started this campaign season off with a strong push because “you’ve got to earn this job, and that’s about showing up and working just as hard as you can every single day,” both as governor and a candidate.
“No, we’re not waiting. Our future is too important,” Beshear said. “And you’re going to see a big difference in how we run these campaigns and who lives out their faith and values. We’re going to be talking about the future, about moving Kentucky not to the right or left, but forward for every family. I think you see the other side, it’s just going to be hurling insults.”
