Road to 2028: Gov. Andy Beshear visits the coasts, broadcasts his agenda
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Road to 2028: Gov. Andy Beshear’s political future
Gov. Andy Beshear is increasingly in the spotlight as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. The Herald-Leader believes Kentuckians should know what he is saying and doing, where he is traveling and what is being said nationally about the two-term governor.
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Editor’s Note: Gov. Andy Beshear is increasingly in the spotlight as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. The Herald-Leader believes Kentuckians should know what he is saying and doing, where he is traveling and what is being said nationally about the two-term governor. To keep the commonwealth updated, our journalists will publish a regular round-up of the latest news and headlines about Beshear.
Speculation about Gov. Andy Beshear’s presidential ambitions has kept a steady pace over the last month as he attended a top Democrat’s annual fundraiser at a luxury Southern California golf course and plugged his SiriusXM-labeled podcast in New York.
To celebrate a SiriusXM deal for his podcast, “The Andy Beshear Podcast,” he hosted an episode at the station’s New York studios and discussed the show on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Another Morning Joe chat highlighted his family roots.
Though his 2028 plans have yet to be announced, the latest appearances have only contributed to the belief he will run.
A Podcast launch in SiriusXM’s studio
To launch the “The Andy Beshear Podcast” on SiriusXM, the governor interviewed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the network’s New York City studios in an episode aired on Sept. 10.
Beshear raised some of the same questions to Jeffries that many Democrats are asking in the wake of a 2024 election cycle that left the party locked out of power in the House, Senate and the White House.
“I think what we’ve seen in polling… especially among younger people, is that the American dream is not within their grasp. They can’t afford a home within 10 years of when their parents did. It feels like even (with) that next job that’s that’s out there, it’s tough to pay the bills. They’re trying to decide whether they have kids or not,” Beshear said. “How does the Democratic Party tell these folks that ‘we are your party?’”
Jeffries responded that the party needs to let them know “we hear you, we see you, we feel you,” and it should focus on policies that could make homeownership more affordable.
Notably, Beshear said he had seen Jeffries “three to four times” in the last six months.
Late Night with Seth Meyers debut
While in New York, Beshear made his debut as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Sept. 9.
He emphasized the difficult conversations low-income families will begin to have about health insurance if Democrats don’t succeed in repealing Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, and his commitment to his values even when politically risky, like vetoing anti-trans legislation.
The two shared laughs about Beshear’s failed childhood attempts to run for schoolwide office, the governor tying his losses to a lack of a political mission. He tied that eventual discovery to a higher calling within the Democratic Party.
Beshear encouraged his fellow leaders to find their own purpose as politicians who connect with everyday people.
“If you run for something, it should never be for the title,” he said. “It should be because you really want to accomplish something. And that’s the lesson I learned. ”
Another chat on Morning Joe
Beshear joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe once again on Sept. 8. He spoke of his podcast’s effort to “be a reasonable voice in a time of chaos” that should “be adopted by every party.”
He attributed his passion for connecting with all Kentuckians to his lineage, paying homage to his grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather, all of whom were ministers in Western Kentucky.
Noting his grandfather’s work as an undertaker in addition to ministry, Beshear told host Al Sharpton his family legacy of supporting others during their hardest times is what sparks the compassion in his leadership. He pointed to examples of holding daily press conferences during COVID-19 and voicing support for Medicaid, recently targeted by Trump’s budget cuts and that provides for thousands of Kentuckians.
A top Democrat’s annual fundraiser in San Diego
Axios reported Aug. 12 that Beshear attended Jeffries’ annual fundraiser to help build momentum for a Democratic House win next year.
At the event, he and Jeffries urged party leaders to use plain language to explain complex problems, like opting for “addiction” instead of “substance use disorder.”
The two-term governor discussed his decision to veto a sweeping 2023 bill targeting transgender youth that would have restricted their bathroom use and medical care, an act that earned him much applause among the fellow Democrats.
“There are some things worth losing over,” he told the crowd about that decision, which he made just months before he’d go on to defeat former Attorney General Daniel Cameron by more than five percentage points in 2023’s gubernatorial election.
A nod in Politico for sanitizing woke language
Center-left think tank Third Way Vice President Lanae Erickson highlighted Beshear as one of “three potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders” leading the way on common language in an exclusive memo to Politico published August 22.
The memo describes Democrats’ language as intended “to include, broaden, empathize, accept, and embrace” but that it portrays the party as “extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory enforcers of wokeness.”
It cataloged six topics Democrats risk losing voters over, from “therapy speak” to “organizer jargon.” It defined the impressions those words leave most voters with, like “These say ‘your views on traditional genders and gender roles are at best quaint’” or “These words signal that talking about race is even more of a minefield.”
Erickson told Politico that Beshear is “getting this so exactly right, talking about how these terms aren’t even what those communities use to call themselves.”
Beshear made similar points on a mid-July visit to South Carolina, an early primary state.
Staff writer Austin Horn contributed reporting to this story.
This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
