KY Politics Insider: Beshear with Biden, says a Dem governor should be president
Kentucky Politics Insider provides an analytical view of Kentucky politics and the conversations that drive decisions. Email me at ahorn@herald-leader.com or ping me on any one of the various social media sites with tips or comments.
Watch Gov. Andy Beshear on his long national media tour, and you’ll hear the same lines many times over.
Democrats need to spend 80% of their time focusing on issues that matter to 100% of people, like infrastructure, healthcare, prices; they need to focus on their “why,” as he did when he vetoed a bill limiting trans Kentucky youth health care options; and they’ve got some lessons to take away from a Democrat who won a state that goes red in every other election.
These are the sorts of messages Beshear hammers home in his many appearances in the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections, when he will chair the Democratic Governors Association, and the 2028 presidential election, when he is expected to be one of many candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.
But the 47-year-old governor offered some new takes on the state of politics and where the Democrats can go from here on stage at Crooked Con, a Democratic media event in Washington held earlier this month.
In an interview with Crooked Media’s Alex Wagner, who called him “Democrats’ red state sweetheart,” he said Democrats should stop thinking about maximizing political appeal to specific coalitions — often grouped by race and gender — and focus more on appealing to everyone.
“I think the strategy near the end for Democrats was, ‘We’ve got to do 84% with this group, 76% with this group, 65% with that group.’ The Trump campaign said, ‘Let’s do 3% better with everyone.’ … Yes, we have differences in our backgrounds that should be respected, but we’re not as different as people think when it comes to our basic, everyday needs,” Beshear said.
In a nod to his potential 2028 campaign, Wagner said that politicians with “defined” principles tend to garner more energy. Take New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, whose easy to repeat platform launched a young Democratic socialist to the biggest local office in the country, she said. Can centrists build that kind of energy?
Yes, Beshear answered.
“Yes, and it’s because the most important emotion for people to feel about any campaign is hope. Hope for a better country, hope for a better life, hope that we won’t be arguing with our neighbors four years from now,” Beshear said. “Every campaign ought to be about how we’re going to better the lives of the American people. When a campaign gets it right, people feel that hope.”
Another new answer about his future: Beshear said the next president should be a Democratic governor.
That’s not far-fetched, as many of the Democrats at the top of the pile in the current discussion for the 2028 nomination are governors, including Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
A Democratic governor has not won the White House since Bill Clinton, whose more moderate approach from a southern state isn’t so unlike Beshear’s own.
They ended with a light-hearted question on whether a politician has to be “cool” to succeed on the scale of a presidential primary and if he has the cool factor.
Beshear didn’t quite answer that one directly.
“I think you have to pay attention more to media than ever before. I think, though, you’ve got to be yourself in different ways… I’m a goofy dad. I love my kids, and I love my family, and I think those are things that people can relate to,” he said.
GOP Senate candidates carve out territory
The map is starting to take shape.
Not the actual election night map for the 2026 GOP primary for U.S. Senate, but the map of where local officials are giving endorsements or signaling their approval.
Rep. Andy Barr, whose tenure in Kentucky politics stretches the longest of the three main Republicans vying for the office, has the most endorsements among state legislators and county judge-executives.
Gone are the days of a county judge-executive and a state representative rallying “their people” and flipping a whole county in favor of their preferred candidate. But these endorsements still matter, especially in cases where the endorser is willing to get out and spread the message.
Barr’s endorsements have bunched in Central Kentucky, parts of Eastern Kentucky — particularly the GOP-loyal “old fifth district” area — and a chunk of Western Kentucky. He’s gotten the support of House Speaker Pro Tempore David Meade, R-Stanford, as well as 14 other members of the House GOP caucus; in the state Senate, he’s got eight of the 32 Republicans.
Former Attorney General Cameron, having held the role of the state’s top cop, has garnered endorsements from law enforcement officials across the state. When it comes to local policymakers, though, he’s started to develop something of a territory.
Cameron’s endorsements come largely from a swath of Kentucky cutting from suburban Louisville, like Bullitt County just south of the state’s biggest city, reaching south into Bowling Green and west to Henderson. The center of that super-region, if you will, is Cameron’s hometown of Elizabethtown.
Nate Morris, on the other hand, has occupied the outsider lane. He’s got the close support of Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, in suburban Jefferson County, but has not been officially endorsed by others. However, Northern Kentucky legislators like Reps. T.J. Roberts, R-Burlington, and Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, have frequented Morris’ events.
Morris has the strong backing, however, of two huge names in national GOP circles: Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and the late Charlie Kirk. Morris was the last candidate to be endorsed Kirk before he was assassinated Sep. 10.
A Kentucky governor in Connecticut… and Nebraska, and Nevada
Beshear has been dipping his toe in Nevada politics in more ways than one.
For starters, his In This Together PAC has contributed to several Nevada U.S. House Democratic candidates. Secondly, Beshear visited the Silver State Tuesday, according to a television interview he conducted with Channel 13 News in Las Vegas.
He elaborated on his “a Democratic governor should be president” line with them.
“In ‘28, we need a Democratic governor as the head of that ticket, and we’ve got a lot of great Democratic governors,” said Beshear in an interview with Channel 13 Tuesday. “And that’s not because someone is moderate, liberal or conservative — it’s because they’re pragmatic. Governors have to get results. We have to balance budgets, we have to create jobs, and we have to create that better life.”
In Nebraska, Beshear shared the stage with former president Joe Biden at the party’s biggest fundraising event Nov. 7. With Democrats still licking their wounds from their first popular vote presidential loss in many years in 2024, many in the party have avoided Biden or spoken negatively about his long insistence on running that year before he eventually dropped out in the summer.
Beshear thanked Biden in his speech “for a lifetime of service to our country.”
“He was a president who governed not for red states or blue states, but for the entire United States, pushing policies that led to the creation of jobs and investment in infrastructure across the country,” Beshear said. “He showed up for Kentucky when we were hit by natural disaster after natural disaster. From devastating tornadoes where he walked through my dad’s hometown… to flooding that had wiped out entire hollers, he was there to help. I am deeply grateful for that.”
In Connecticut, Beshear also helped headline a state party fundraiser. With the Democratic governor there, Ned Lamont, seeking a third term in the deep blue state, Beshear spoke highly of his reelection prospects in 2026. Lamont’s race will be one of 36 Beshear will be tasked with aiding as chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
He also spoke at length about his own accomplishments in Kentucky, including the restoration of voting rights for 200,000 formerly incarcerated people and removing a statue of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky Capitol building.
“I’m here as proof than when Democrats put people first, when we stand firm on our values we can, and we will win tough elections all over this country,” Beshear said, according to CT Insider, which noted that he slid into a Kentucky drawl.
